László Nagy (poet)

He was born in the village of Felsőiszkáz, Veszprém county, as the third of four children; his younger brother also became a poet, writing under the name István Ágh.

After graduating from high school he went to Budapest where he first wanted to be a graphic artist, and studied drawing, but he was already writing poetry.

Later he was mainly a translator, and from 1959 he worked at the important literary magazine Élet és Irodalom ("Life and Literature") until his death.

Another main topic during these years were poetic portraits of people like poet Attila József, composer Béla Bartók and painter Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka.

The poem is his artistic creed, it asks who would save the important and beautiful things in life even during times of crisis, if poets couldn't.