What makes Janis Rainis an especially illustrious figure in the history of Latvian literature is the quality and originality of his creative work as well as the key role he played in his country's cultural and political struggle for independence. His writing must be considered in the context of the political events and movements affecting Eastern Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Rainis was born Janis Plieksans on 11 September 1865 in the eastern county of Dunava to a tenant farmer, Krisjanis Plieksans, and his wife, Darta Plieksane. Janis completed his secondary education from 1880 to 1883 at the German state gymnasium in Riga. He began writing poetry at the age of ten, and his literary activity intensified in Riga. At school he learned Latin and Greek, became acquainted with the classics of world literature, and began collecting Latvian folklore, especially the dainas (folk songs) his mother was fond of...