Editing Máj (section)

==Reception and criticism==
[[File:Karel Hynek Macha grave 479.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Mácha's grave in Prague]]
Mácha correctly estimates, in the opening remarks of his poem, that the poem is unlikely to be well received by his contemporaries: it "met with indifference and even hostility". Contemporary poet [[Josef Kajetán Tyl]] satirized Mácha's persona in "Rozervanec", and [[František Palacký]], a leading figure in the [[Czech National Revival]], likewise criticized the poet's talent (commentary that Mácha himself referred to in an 1835 diary entry).<ref name="Thomas">{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Alfred|title=The Labyrinth of the Word: Truth and Representation in Czech Literature|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCLny941hsoC&pg=PA71|access-date=29 June 2013|year=1995|publisher=Oldenbourg|isbn=9783486559972|pages=71–89|chapter=Patriotism and Poetry in Karel Hynek Mácha's ''Máj''}}</ref>

As with many poets, of particular interest to scholars is the relationship between Mácha himself and his poetic work, which is "intensely personal, almost confessional."<ref name="erlich">{{cite journal  | last = Erlich  | first = Victor  | title = Limits of the Biographical Approach  | journal = Comparative Literature  | volume = 6  | issue = 2  | pages = 130–37  | publisher = Duke UP  | year = 1954  | jstor = 1768488  | doi = 10.2307/1768488}} P. 133</ref> [[Roman Jakobson]], for instance, published an essay called "Co je poesie?", focused on Mácha and his ''Máj'',<ref>{{cite journal  | last = Jakobson  | first = Roman  | author-link = Roman Jakobson  | title = Co je poesie?  | journal = Volne Smery  | volume = XXX | year = 1933–34  }}</ref> in which he "calls attention to the stark contrast between the devotional reverence of Macha's love poem and the cynically coarse references to its heroine in the poet's diary."<ref name="erlich"/> This problem is "solved" in reference to the demands of [[literary genre]]: "The formulae of love poetry encouraged, indeed urged upon the poet, the tone of adoration, of worship."<ref name="erlich"/>