Antanas Strazdas

Antanas Strazdas (9 March 1760 in Margėnai, Rokiškis district – 23 April 1833 in Kamajai; signed in Polish as Antoni Drozdowski, often called Strazdelis by the locals) was a Lithuanian priest and poet.

Born to a poor serf family, he attended many schools established by monasteries, including ones in Polatsk and Daugavpils.

However, the authorship is hard to establish because of lack of written proof and because of the tendency of Strazdas' songs to become part of folklore.

His most famous poems include Strazdas (The Thrush), where the poet, personified by the bird, sings about peasant's joys and worries; Aušra (The Dawn) tells about the joy a dawn brings and that breaks a lot of rules on rhythm and rhyme; Barnis (The Quarrel) is the only poem about Strazdas himself.

Strazdas borrowed melody, tone, and style from the folk songs, writing his poetry for the common peasants.