difficulties of ordinary people. They remain very popular decades after, many Romanians being able to recite parts of them from memory. The performers were a mix of professional artists as well as talented amateurs vetted by Păunescu himself. Many of these ”novices” have become famous performers, household names - for example Nicu Alifantis, Adrian Ivaniţchi, Marcela Saftiuc, Mădălina Amon, Ștefan Hrușcă, Mircea Baniciu, Mircea Vintilă, Tatiana Stepa and many others. At the height of its popularity, the events were gathering tens of thousands of young people, filling stadiums. Poetry As with the man, Adrian Păunescu's poetry is difficult to define or pigeonhole easily. On debut he writes in a modernist and mythological tone - reinterpreting old myths couched within abstract contemporary rhetoric. In this phase he also writes "pure poetry", similar to his illustrious contemporary Nichita Stănescu, although most people and literary critics mostly remember the later Păunescu poetry, the one moving to a Messianic tone, where his verses were sung and recited by thousands of young people in stadiums. Regarding the later, singer and song-writer Daniel Reynaud, who occasionally performs (Australia, USA) songs on verses of Păunescu translated in English, expressed the opinion that Against War (Antirăzboinica - Verses Adrian Păunescu, music Valeriu Sterian, translation Daniel Ioniță) is on par with any anti war poem or song Bob Dylan, or anyone, might have written. According to literary critic Nicolae Manolescu, Adrian Păunescu is a both loved and loathed, authentic and false, capable of sublime poetry as well as mediocre slogans. He certainly irritates, be it by default or design: "I hate everything about his poet, apart from his poetry..." (Eugen Barbu). Păunescu is capable of large and swift movements of emotion and expression in his poetry, where loud posing can be followed by delicate doubt, and a pamphlet by a hymn. "A devilish body with an angel's soul". Literary historian and critic Alex Ștefănescu is of the opinion that if professionally anthologised, liberated from its weaker parts, Adrian Păunescu's poetry could be on par with the best of what Romanian poetry has to offer. Political career After 1989 Păunescu pursued a political career, aligning himself with socialism and then social-democratic political parties. In 1996, he ran in that year's Romanian presidential election but received only 87,163 votes (0.69%). He was a senator from 1992 to 2008, representing Dolj County (1992–2004) and then Hunedoara County (2004–2008), initially representing the Socialist