Ján Hollý (born 1785 in Borský Svätý Mikuláš - died 1849 in Dobrá Voda) - a poet, translator, catholic priest. One of the greatest Slovak and Slavic poets and the key representative of the classicism in Slovak literature.

He has created the substantial part of his works in the village of Madunice, where he liked to write poems in the Mlíč woods under an old robust oak. He started his writer career by doing the translations of antique poets, with the most important one being the translation of Vergilio's Eneada, which became a template also for his own composition Svatopluk - the first national epos. Among his other works there are the eposes (Cyrillo-Metodiada, Slav), idyllic poems (Selanki), elegies (Žalospevy), odes (Pesňe), other poems (Rozličné básňe). Both his translations and original works were written in the first literary Slovak language - the Bernolak's codified Slovak and in the quantitative verse. Although the 1^st volume of his Catholic Songbook had been composed still in the quantitative verse, the 2^nd volume was composed in the syllabic verse system. The Hollý's works inspired the forthcoming generation of Štúr's followers - the young writers who refered to him as the Slovak Vergilio and Homer.

The first assembled work of Hollý was published in 1841-42 under the title "Básňe Jána Hollého". A comprehensive selection in original language and in the poetic translation into the current Slovak was published in 1985. His works are still challenging and alive.

Ján Štibraný, PhD.