Croatian poet
Vladimir Vidri?
(April 20, 1875 – September 29, 1909) was a
Croatian
poet, and is considered one of the major figures of Croatian
secessionist
poetry.
Life
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Vidri? was born in
Zagreb
,
[1]
to an affluent family of
Slovenian
origin. He was one of the leaders of the demonstrators who
burned the Hungarian flag on the occasion of the emperor Franz Joseph's visit to Zagreb in 1895
. He studied law in
Prague
,
Graz
and
Vienna
.
[1]
After obtaining his Ph.D. in 1903, he became a lawyer rather than pursuing an academic career.
He began writing poems in high school, and was first recognized for his poem
Boni mores
, published in
Vienac
in 1897. Before his premature death, he wrote only about 40 poems, most of which he self-published in his 1907 collection with the simple title
Pjesme
(Poems).
In addition to his affiliations with controversial progressive political circles, Vidri? was known for his adventurous life, great intelligence, and prodigious memory. He was an outstanding student, and spent entire evenings reciting memorized poetry to his amazed friends.
He died under obscure circumstances in the mental hospital in the
Zagreb
suburb of
Vrap?e
.
Poetry
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]
As a rule, Vidri?'s poetic atmospheres develop from a concrete scene. The poet is lost or hidden in a
mythological
character. His images of a barbaric, classical and mythological world are very personal. He was an
impressionist
with a strong visual imagination.
His best poems, such as
Jutro
(Morning),
Dva pejza?a
(Two landscapes),
Adieu
,
Ex Pannonia
,
Dva levita
(Two Levites), include some of the best verses ever written in Croatian. Some of his contemporaries, such as
Mato?
, accused him of technical imperfections, wrong
accents
in
rhymes
, and raw style. However, Vidri? was simply before his time, choosing to base his
rhythm
on
main accents
rather than
feet
.
The Croatian literary historian
Ivo Frange?
wrote, "Vidri?'s world feels like a fragment of an ancient vase, where the incomplete nature of the preserved scene is used to strengthen the effect. It is a miniature world, painfully clear, with a miraculous third dimension that goes far beyond our everyday ideas of width and depth."
Sources
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]
External links
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]
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