Mkrtich Achemian

Mkirtich Achemian (Armenian: Մկրտիչ Աճեմյան) (1838-1917) was an Armenian poet.

Biography

Achemian was born in 1838 in Ortagiugh, a suburb of Constantinople and received his early education in a local Armenian school. Beginning in 1852, he continued his education in Murat-Raphaelian school in Venice where he developed his literary talent under Ghevond Alishan. He returned to Constantinople in 1858 and started working for State Telegraph Administration, he kept this job for most of his life.

Achemian's poems were published in various newspapers and periodicals, and were eventually collected into three books. Zhbitk yev Artasuk (Smiles and Tears, 1871), Luys yev Stverk (Light and Shadow, 1878) and Garnan Hover (Winds of Spring, 1892). In 1908 he published all three books as one volume and added more poems that he wrote since the last publishing. He also published collection of translated foreign poems, Zanazan targmanutiunk (Diverse translations).

Achemian's poems are written in refined Modern Armenian, they are delicate and reach in rhymes that impart a certain musicality. He was a poet of the romantic school, but kept traces of classicism. He was a renowned poet in his time, but he was unwilling or unable to change his style of poetry which lost its flavor in 1880's.^[1]

References

1. ^ The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Eighteenth Century to Modern Times By Agop Jack Hacikyan, Gabriel. Basmajian, Edward S. Franchuk (Page 362)