Background
Březina was born in the small town of Počátky, Pelhřimov District, and took his inspiration from the mysterious landscape of the Českomoravská Vrchovina region, straddling Bohemia and Moravia, where he spent his whole life.
Březina was born in the small town of Počátky, Pelhřimov District, and took his inspiration from the mysterious landscape of the Českomoravská Vrchovina region, straddling Bohemia and Moravia, where he spent his whole life.
Around 1895 he pondered questions regarding the meaning of life, and wrote his first book of poems Tajemné dálky, expressing his separation from the outer world and his seeking solace in the arts In his second book, Svítání na západě (1896), Březina explored pain as a means of cognition, and held death to be the key to understanding the mystery of life. His third book, Větry od pólů (1897), show him shifting focus from his personal pain to the issue of human solidarity, as well as his endeavor to merge with the life energy of the Cosmos.
The feeling of belonging to "Everything" is more perceptible in his next book Stavitelé chrámu (where he glorified the ingenious personalities as the bearers of development), and culminates in his last book of poems, Ruce (1901), in a vision of a magical chain formed by all hands, building up the external world.
Březina"s sixth book of poems, Země, remained unfinished. Březina"s poetical expression, very rich in metaphors and parables, religious elements and philosophical and even scientific terms, merged gradually from rhythmical alexandrines into broad free verse, filled with sensual images, rich in thought and musical taste.
His books of essays constitute the integral part of his work, and his extensive correspondence serves as a commentary on his creative activities and philosophy. Březina is also noted for the friendships which he formed with other Czechoslovakian cultural figures, including the Symbolist sculptor František Bílek, the literary critic, sociologist and political scientist Emanuel Chalupný, the poet, prose writer, and priest Jakub Deml, and the philosopher and writer Ladislav Klíma.
He died in Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou.
There are various discourses and monographs on Otokar Březina, of which arguably the largest is the one written by Oldřich Králík in 1948. An English-language study and translation of Březina, Otokar Březina: a Study in Czechoslovakian Literature, was written by Paul Selver in 1921. Březina"s original and soaring poetry influenced a considerable number of Czechoslovakian modern poets.