Often called "the nightingale of Lithuania," Salomeja Neris was one of the most popular Lithuanian poets of the first half of the twentieth century. The lyrical quality of her poetry was influenced by the oral folklore tradition. In verses that often have a confessional tone, like private letters or diaries, Neris created a poetic autobiography that many Lithuanian readers substituted for the actual events of her life. A devout Roman Catholic as a youth, in the 1930s she became a Communist and wrote poetry in support of the Soviet Union. There is, however, evidence that she was returning to her earlier beliefs shortly before her death.

Neris was born Salomeja Bacinskaite-Buciene on 17 November 1904 in the village of Kirsai to Simonas Bacinskas and Ursule Zemaityte-Bacinskienene, both farmers. She attended a girls' school in Marijampole, and in 1919 she began studies at the Ziburys high school in Vilkaviskis. Highly religious from...