Dragutin Domjanić was a Croatian Kajkavian poet.

Domjanić was born in Zelina

Sveti Ivan Zelina

-Geography:Sveti Ivan Zelina is north-east from Zagreb, connected: by A4 highway , then state road Sv.Helena - Sveti Ivan Zelina,-Population:...

. He became the first writer in Croatian literature

Croatian literature

Croatian literature is a definition given to the compilation of novels, dramas, short stories, poems and other various work of written kind entirely attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats and the Croatian language....

 to achieve complete and artistically mature melodiousness and rhythmicity of the Croatian Kajkavian expression. Having graduated law, he served as a judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

 in Zagreb and as a counsellor for Ban

Ban (title)

Ban was a title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.-Etymology:The word ban has entered the English language probably as a borrowing from South Slavic ban, meaning "lord, master; ruler". The Slavic word is probably borrowed from...

's table. He was a member of Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and the president of Matica hrvatska

Matica hrvatska

Matica hrvatska is one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, dating back to 1842. The name is somewhat idiosyncratic, best translated as "The Croatian Centre" . It is the largest publisher of Croatian language books...

 (1921–1926). In a struggle between the "old" and the "young" in the framework of Croatian Modernism

Modernist literature

Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...

, he sides with the "young". He versified motifs such as spiritual love, intimacy of the nobility mansions, marquises and cavaliers of the past days. He fears the brutality of the present, mourns the world dying off, he is incredulous of new ideas.

His affection for the past directs him towards the Kajkavian dialect. The most notable work of Domjanić is thus Kajkavian poem collection Kipci i popevke, and the poems "Fala" and "Popevke sam slagal", both set to music by Vlaho Paljetak

Vlaho Paljetak

Vlaho Paljetak was a Croatian composer. He was born in Dubrovnik in the Austro-Hungarian Empire which is now part of modern Croatia. Vlaho was educated in Arbanasi, near Zadar, and worked as a teacher in Hvar and Vis. He studied singing and violin and was a self-taught guitarist...

. Croatian composer Ivana Lang

Ivana Lang

Ivana Lang was a Croatian composer, pianist and piano teacher. She was born in Zagreb, Croatia, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire). She completed piano studies in 1937 at the Music Academy in Zagreb...

 has in a similar manner set to music several Domjanić's poems. His lyrical expression, idyllic and sentimental, abounds both by the picturesqueness and musicality.

All of his poems were written in Kajkavian. He also wrote a number of literary accounts, and a few prosaic notes, chiefly in the spirit of his lyrical interests and stylistic manière.

He is also the other of less known "string puppet play" Petrica Kerempuh i spametni osel, in which he provides a critical and satirical account of Croatian intellectuals in the 1920s.

He died in Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

.

Works

• "Kipci i popevke" (1917)
• "V suncu i senci" (1927)
• "Po dragomu kraju" (1933)
• "Sonce"
• "Fala"