Amir Hamzah

The date officially recognised by the Indonesian government is 28 February 1911, a date Amir used throughout his life.

However, his elder brother Abdullah Hod states that the poet was born on 11 February 1911.

Amir later took the name of his grandfather, Teungku Hamzah, as a second name; thus, he was referred to as Amir Hamzah.

Though a child of nobility, he would often associate with non-nobles.

Amir was schooled in Islamic principles such as Qu'ran reading, fiqh, and tawhid, and studied at the Azizi Mosque in Tanjung Pura from a young age.

He remained a devout Muslim throughout his life.

Sources disagree on the period in which he completed his formal studies.

Several sources, including the Indonesian government's Language Centre, state that he started school in 1916, while the biographer M. Lah Husny puts the future poet's first year of formal schooling as 1918.

At the Dutch-language elementary school where Amir first studied, he began writing and received good marks; in her biography of him, Nh. Dini writes that Amir was nicknamed "older brother" (abang) by his classmates as he was much taller than them.

In 1924 or 1925, Amir graduated from the school in Langkat and moved to Medan to study at the Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs (MULO; middle school) there.

After completing his studies some two years later, he entered a formal relationship with his cousin from his mother's side, Aja (also Aje) Bun.

Husny wrote that the two were arranged to be married by their parents, while Dini cast the relationship as a vow to be always faithful.

As his parents permitted him to finish his studies in Java, Amir moved to the colonial capital at Batavia (now Jakarta) to complete his studies.

Alone aboard the Plancus, Amir made the three-day boat trip to Java.

Upon arriving at Batavia, he enrolled at a Christian MULO there, where he completed his last year of junior high school.

Anthony H. Johns of Australian National University writes that he learned some Christian concepts and values.

Also in Batavia, Amir became involved with the social organisation Jong Sumatera.

During this period Amir wrote his first poems.

Husny credits several to his heartbreak after he found out that Aja Bun had been married to another man without Amir's knowledge (the two never spoke again), while Dini suggests that the poem "Tinggallah" was written not long after he boarded the Plancus, while he was longing for his parents.

After a brief return to Sumatra, Amir continued to a Boedi Oetomo-operated Algemene Middelbare School (AMS; senior high school) in Surakarta, Central Java, where he studied eastern literature and languages, including Javanese, Sanskrit, and Arabic.

While attending senior high school in Surakarta around 1930, Amir became involved with the nationalist movement and fell in love with a Javanese schoolmate, Ilik Sundari.

In 1932 he co-founded the literary magazine Poedjangga Baroe.

After his return to Sumatra, he stopped writing.

Even after Amir continued his studies in legal school in Batavia (now Jakarta) the two remained close, only separating in 1937 when Amir was recalled to Sumatra to marry the sultan's daughter and take on responsibilities of the court.

Though unhappy with his marriage, he fulfilled his courtly duties.

Most of his poems were published in two collections, Nyanyi Sunyi (1937) and Buah Rindu (1941), first in Poedjangga Baroe then as stand-alone books.

Poems by Amir deal with the themes of love and religion and his poetry often reflects a deep inner conflict.

His diction, using both Malay and Javanese words and expanding on traditional structures, was influenced by the need for rhythm and metre, as well as symbolism related to particular terms.

His earlier works deal with a sense of longing and both erotic and idealised love, whereas his later works have a deeper religious meaning.

Of his two collections, Nyanyi Sunyi is considered the most developed.

Amir has been called the "King of the Poedjangga Baroe-era Poets" and the only international-class Indonesian poet from before the Indonesian National Revolution.

Amir was born as Tengkoe Amir Hamzah Pangeran Indra Poetera in Tanjung Pura, Langkat, North Sumatra, the youngest son of Vice Sultan Tengku Muhammad Adil and his third wife Tengku Mahjiwa.

Through his father, he was related to the Sultan of Langkat, Machmud.

Sources disagree over his date of birth.

After Indonesia proclaimed its independence in 1945, he served as the government's representative in Langkat.

The following year he was killed in a social revolution led by the PESINDO (Pemuda Sosialis Indonesia), and buried in a mass grave.

Amir began writing poetry while still a teenager: though his works are undated, the earliest are thought to have been written when he first travelled to Java.

Drawing influences from his own Malay culture and Islam, as well as from Christianity and Eastern literature, Amir wrote 50 poems, 18 pieces of lyrical prose, and numerous other works, including several translations.

Tengku Amir Hamzah (February 1911 – 20 March 1946) was an Indonesian poet and National Hero of Indonesia.

Born into a Malay aristocratic family in the Sultanate of Langkat in North Sumatra, he was educated in both Sumatra and Java.