Romanian culture[edit]

Eminescu was only 20 when Titu Maiorescu, the top literary critic in 1870 Romania dubbed him "a
real poet", in an essay where only a handful of the Romanian poets of the time were spared
Maiorescu's harsh criticism. In the following decade, Eminescu's notability as a poet grew continually
thanks to (1) the way he managed to enrich the literary language with words and phrases from all
Romanian regions, from old texts, and with new words that he coined from his wide philosophical
readings; (2) the use of bold metaphors, much too rare in earlier Romanian poetry; (3) last but not
least, he was arguably the first Romanian writer who published in all Romanian provinces and was
constantly interested in the problems of Romanians everywhere. He defined himself as a Romantic,
in a poem addressed To My Critics (Criticilor mei), and this designation, his untimely death as well
as his bohemian lifestyle (he never pursued a degree, a position, a wife or fortune) had him
associated with the Romantic figure of the genius. As early as the late 1880s, Eminescu had a group
of faithful followers. His 1883 poem Luceafărul was so notable that a new literary review took its
name after it.
The most realistic psychological analysis of Eminescu was written by I. L. Caragiale, who, after the
poet's death published three short care articles on this subject: In Nirvana, Irony and Two
notes. Caragiale stated that Eminescu's characteristic feature was the fact that "he had an
excessively unique nature".[14] Eminescu's life was a continuous oscillation
between introvert and extrovert attitudes.[15]
That's how I knew him back then, and that is how he remained until his last moments of well-being:
cheerful and sad; sociable and crabbed; gentle and abrupt; he was thankful for everything and
unhappy about some things; here he was as abstemious as a hermit, there he was ambitious to the
pleasures of life; sometimes he ran away from people and then he looked for them; he was carefree
as a Stoic and choleric as an edgy girl. Strange medley! – happy for an artist, unhappy for a man!
The portrait that Titu Maiorescu made in the study Eminescu and
poems emphasizes Eminescu's introvert dominant traits. Titu Maiorescu promoted the image of a
dreamer who was far away from reality, who did not suffer because of the material conditions that he
lived in, regardless of all the ironies and eulogies of his neighbour, his main characteristic was
"abstract serenity".[16]
In reality, just as one can discover from his poems and letters and just as Caragiale remembered,
Eminescu was seldom influenced by boisterous subconscious motivations. Eminescu's life was but
an overlap of different-sized cycles, made of sudden bursts that were nurtured by dreams and crises
due to the impact with reality. The cycles could last from a few hours or days to weeks or months,
depending on the importance of events, or could even last longer, when they were linked to the
events that significantly marked his life, such as his relation with Veronica, his political activity during
his years as a student, or the fact that he attended the gatherings at the Junimea society or the
articles he published in the newspaper Timpul. He used to have a unique manner of describing his
own crisis of jealousy.[17]
You must know, Veronica, that as much as I love you, I sometimes hate you; I hate you without a
reason, without a word, only because I imagine you laughing with someone else, and your laughter
doesn't mean to him what it means to me and I feel I grow mad at the thought of somebody else
touching you, when your body is exclusively and without impartasion to anyone. I sometimes hate
you because I know you own all these allures that you charmed me with, I hate you when I suspect
you might give away my fortune, my only fortune. I could only be happy beside you if we were far
away from all the other people, somewhere, so that I didn't have to show you to anybody and I could
be relaxed only if I could keep you locked up in a bird house in which only I could enter.

National poet[edit]
He was soon proclaimed Romania's national poet, not because he wrote in an age of national
revival, but rather because he was received as an author of paramount significance by Romanians in
all provinces. Even today, he is considered the national poet of Romania, Moldova, and of the
Romanians who live in Bucovina.[citation needed]

Iconography[edit]

Former 1000 lei banknote

500 lei banknote

Eminescu is omnipresent in today's Romania. His statues are everywhere; [citation needed] his face was on
the 1000-lei banknotes issued in 1991, 1992, and 1998, and is on the 500-lei banknote issued in
2005 as the highest-denominated Romanian banknote (see Romanian leu); Eminescu's Linden
Tree is one of the country's most famous natural landmarks, while many schools and other
institutions are named after him. The anniversaries of his birth and death are celebrated each year in
many Romanian cities, and they became national celebrations in 1989 (the centennial of his death)
and 2000 (150 years after his birth, proclaimed Eminescu's Year in Romania).
Several young Romanian writers provoked a huge scandal when they wrote about their demystified
idea of Eminescu and went so far as to reject the "official" interpretation of his work. [18]

International legacy[edit]
A monument jointly dedicated to Eminescu and Allama Iqbal was erected in Islamabad, Pakistan on
15 January 2004, commemorating Pakistani-Romanian ties, as well as the dialogue between
civilizations which is possible through the cross-cultural appreciation of their poetic legacies. In 2004,
the Mihai Eminescu Statue was erected in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[19]

 Monuments to Mihai Eminescu (selection)

 

Mihai Eminescu statue, Iași

 

Mihai Eminescu statue, Chișinău

 

Mihai Eminescu, monument by Tudor Cataraga, Chișinău

 
 

Eminescu's Linden Tree, Copou Park

 

Mihai Eminescu, monument by Oscar Han, Constanța

 

Mihai Eminescu stone, Recanati