Stefan Augustin Doinas is generally recognized as one of the greatest twentieth-century poets in the Romanian language. He is a man of letters, combining poetry translation, criticism, and theory with social and political activities. Throughout his life he has been steadfast in supporting the values of freedom, tolerance, progress, abundant labor, and openness toward the world-principles he has incorporated in his poetic work.

Doinas was born Stefan Augustin Popa on 26 April 1922 in the village of Cporal Alexa in Western Romania. His father, Augustin Popa, and his mother, Florita (née Laza), were affluent farmers. He went to the grade school of his native village and thereafter studied at the Moise Nicoara high school in the city of Arad from 1933 to 1941. In college he pursued medical studies from 1941 to 1944 at the University of Cluj-Sibiu, but never graduated; from 1944 to 1948 he studied at the same university and obtained a...