France Prešeren
Encyclopedia
France Prešeren (3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a Slovene Romantic poet
. He is considered the Slovene national poet. Although he was not a particularly prolific author, he inspired virtually all Slovene literature thereafter.
He was born 3 December 1800 (Saturday) in the Upper Carniola
n village of Vrba, then part of the Habsburg Monarchy
(today in Slovenia
), to a relatively well-to-do peasant family. Already as a child, he showed considerable talent, so his parents decided to provide him with a good education. At the age of eight, he was sent to elementary schools in Grosuplje
and Ribnica, run by the local Roman Catholic clergy. In 1812, he moved to the Carniola
n provincial capital of Ljubljana
, where he attended the State Gymnasium
. Already at a very young age, he learned Latin
, Ancient Greek
, as well as German
, which was then the language of education, administration and high culture
in most areas inhabited by Slovenes
. In Ljubljana, Prešeren's talent was spotted by the poet Valentin Vodnik
who encouraged him to develop his literary skills in the Slovene language. As a high school student, he became friends with the future philologist Matija Čop
, who would have an extremely important influence on the development of Prešeren's poetry.
In 1821, Prešeren enrolled at the University of Vienna
, where he studied law, against the wishes of his mother who wanted him to become a priest. In Vienna
, he became acquainted with the western canon
from Homer
to Goethe, but he was most fascinated by Dante
and the Italian
trecentists
, especially Petrarch
and Boccaccio. He also read contemporary Romantic
poets, and he was even fired from the teaching post at the Klinkowström
's Jesuit institute for having lent a booklet of banned poetry to his friend Anastasius Grün
.
After acquiring a law degree
in 1828, he returned to Ljubljana, where he got employment as an assistant in the firm of the lawyer Leopold Baumgartner. He was constantly striving to become an independent lawyer by putting in as many as six applications, but he was not successful. In 1832, he shortly moved to Klagenfurt
in the hope of furthering his career, but returned to Ljubljana after less than a year. In the spring of 1833, he met Julija Primic, the daughter of a rich merchant, who would become the unfulfilled love of his life. In 1834, he began working as an assistant to his friend Blaž Crobath who gave Prešeren enough free time to engage in his literary activities. In the same year, he met the Czech romantic poet Karel Hynek Mácha
and the Slovene-born Croatian poet Stanko Vraz
and had long and fruitful discussions on poetry with them.
Around 1836, Prešeren finally realized that his love for Julija would never become mutual. The same year, he met Ana Jelovšek, with whom he entered into a permanent relationship. They had three children, but never married. Prešeren supported Ana financially and treated her as his rightful mate, but engaged in several other love affairs at the same time. He also spent a lot of time travelling throughout Carniola, especially to Lake Bled
, from the scenery of which he drew inspiration for his poems. In 1846, Prešeren was finally allowed to open his own law firm and moved to Kranj
with his family. He died there on 8 February 1849. Upon his deathbed he confessed that he had never forgotten Julija.
In general, Prešeren's life was an unhappy one. He was confronted with constant rejections, had an unstable sentimental life, and saw most of his closest friends die tragically. He lived in confrontation with both the civil and religious establishment, as well as with the provincial bourgeoisie of Ljubljana. His talent was far too high to be fully acknowledged by the contemporary culturally backward society of Slovenia. He fell victim to severe drinking problems
and tried to take his life
on at least two occasions. The motive of "the hostile fortune" is a frequent one in his works.
and the rich tradition of Slovenian folk poetry. In 1825, he completed a collection of "Carniolan songs", which he showed to the philologist Jernej Kopitar
. Kopitar was very critical of the young man's literary attempts, so Prešeren destroyed the whole collection. Kopitar's rejection hindered the development of Prešeren's creativity; he did not publish anything more until 1827, when his satirical poem "To the Maidens" (Dekletom) was published by the German language journal Illyrisches Blatt. In 1828, Prešeren wrote his first important poem, A Farewell to Youth. It was however published only in 1830, in the literary journal Kranjska č'belica ("The Carniolan Bee"), established the same year by the publisher Miha Kastelic in Ljubljana.
In 1830, Prešeren's old high school friend Matija Čop returned to Ljubljana and re-established contacts with Prešeren. Čop soon recognized his friend's poetic talent and persuaded him to adopt Romanic poetic forms. Following Čop's advice, Prešeren would soon become a master of the sonnet
. His poems were noticed by the Czech scholar František Čelakovský
who published several highly positive critiques of it. Čelakovský's praise was extremely important for Prešeren's self-esteem and gave him the strength to continue in the path on which Čop had orientated him.
Between 1830 and 1835, Prešeren composed his esthetically most accomplished poems, which were inspired by the setbacks in his personal life, especially by the unhappy love for Julija Primic. Prešeren followed Čop's advice and transformed Julija into a poetic figure, reminiscent of Dante's Beatrice
and Petrarch's Laura, as can be seen in this first stanza of his poem Gazele:
The Wreath of Sonnets
The most important poem from this period is the crown of sonnets
Sonetni Venec ("A Wreath of Sonnets"), written and published in 1834. In it, Prešeren tied together the motives of his own unhappy love with that of an unhappy, subjugated homeland. In the seventh sonnet, Prešeren made something that was later seen as a prophecy of his own glory: referring to the ancient myth of Orpheus
, he invoked the skies to send a new Orpheus to the Slovene people, the beauty of whose poetry would inspire patriotism, help overcome internal disputes and unify all Slovenes into one nation again. In the eighth sonnet, he went on in exposing the reasons why such an Orpheus—the metaphor for high culture in general and poetry in particular—had not yet been produced by the Slovenes. Exposing a decidedly negative vision of Slovenian history
, consisting of nothing but foreign invasions and internal disputes ("the roar of tempests o'er a home unkind"), he maintained that it was the lack of glorious deeds that had hindered the flourishing of poetry. The few flowers of poetry still growing on the Slovenian Parnassus were fed only by tears and sighs:
But, he went on in the next sonnets, there was still hope for the renewal of Slovenian poetry and thus for the coming of an Orpheus that would unify all the nation with his gentle singing: Julija only had to "send rays from her eyes for their glory to renew". Prešeren's message was clear: if Julija accepted his advances, she would become the muse inspiring solemn poems which would bring a new high culture to the Slovenes and thus make them a nation again.
Besides the complex and sophisticated content, the "Wreath of Sonnets" has an interesting format, too: the last line of one sonnet becomes the first line of the next one, making all fourteen sonnets of the circle an intertwining "garland" of emotional lyricism; one sonnet cannot exist without the other. The first lines of all the single fourteen sonnets form in turn another sonnet, called the "Master Theme" or the Magistrale. In the English translation by Vivian de Sola Pinto
the Master Theme is as follows:
In the Slovene original, however, the first letters of every verse form the words Primicovi Julji, meaning "to Julija Primic". The poem was recognized as a masterpiece by Matija Čop, but it did not gain much recognition beyond the small circle around the Kranjska č'belica magazine. Moreover, Julija was unimpressed. Understandably, Prešeren moved to more bitter verses.
The Sonnets of Unhappiness
Another important work from this period are the "Sonnets of Unhappiness" (Sonetje nesreče), which were first drafted already in 1832, but were published only in 1834, with some changes. They are undoubtedly the most pessimistic of Prešeren's works. It is a group of six (initially seven) sonnets expressing the poet's despair over life. The first sonnet
, in which Prešeren debates about what his life could have been like had he never left his home village, became extremely popular during the late 19th century. In the 20th century, several musical interpretations of the poem were created, the most known a version by the Slovene folk rock
musician Vlado Kreslin
. The other sonnets from the circle have not gained such a widespread popularity, but are still considered by scholars to be among Prešeren's most genuine and profound works.
interpreted the poem as a paradigmatic example of the emergence of modern subjectivity
.
In 1837, Prešeren met Emil Korytko
, a Polish political activist from Galicia, confined by the Austrian
authorities to Ljubljana. Korytko introduced to Prešeren the work of Adam Mickiewicz
, which had an important influence on his later works. The two even jointly translated one of Mickiewicz's poems (Resygnacja) from Polish to Slovenian and started collecting Slovenian folk songs in Carniola and Lower Styria
. In 1839, Korytko died, leaving Prešeren without an important interlocutor
after Čop's death.
In the autumn of the same year, Andrej Smole, one of Prešeren's friends from his youth, returned home after many years of living and travelling abroad. Smole was a relatively rich young intellectual from a well-established merchant family, who supported the development of Slovenian culture. The two spent much of the winter of 1839-1840 on Smole's estate in Lower Carniola
, where they planned several cultural and literary projects, including the establishment of a daily newspaper in the Slovenian language and the publishing of Anton Tomaž Linhart
's comedy "Matiček's Wedding" which had been prohibited as "politically inappropriate" in 1790, due to the outbreak of the French Revolution
. Both projects failed: the planned journal Ilirske novice was blocked by the Viennese censorship, and Linhart's play would be staged only in 1848, without Prešeren's assistance. Smole died suddenly in 1840, literally in Prešeren's arms, while celebrating his 40th birthday. Prešeren dedicated a touching, yet unexpectedly cheerful and vitalist poem to his late friend.
started publishing a new daily journal in the Slovenian language and invited Prešeren to participate in its cultural section. The two men came from rather different backgrounds: Bleiweis was a moderate conservative and staunch supporter of the ecclesiastical and imperial establishments and alien to the Romantic culture. He nevertheless established a fair relationship with the poet. Prešeren's participation in Bleiweis' editorial project was the closest he would come to public recognition during his lifetime.
In 1844, he wrote the patriotic poem Zdravljica
("A Toast"), the most important achievement of his late period. In 1847, a volume of his collected poems was published under the simple title Poezije dr. Franceta Prešerna ("Poems of Dr. France Prešeren").
Prešeren spent the last two years of his life occupied with private life and his new job as a lawyer in Kranj. According to some accounts, he was planning several literary projects, including a novel in the realistic style
and an experimental play, but he was struck with liver disease caused by his excessive drinking in prior years. The revolution of 1848 left him rather indifferent, although it was carried out by the young generation who already saw him as an idol of democratic and national
ideals. Before his death, he did however redact his Zdravljica, which was left out from the 1847 volume of poems, and made some minor adjustments for a new edition of his collected poems.
in Slovenia.
Nevertheless, recognition came slow after his death. It was not before 1866 that a real breakthrough in the reception of his role in Slovenian culture took place. In that year, Josip Jurčič
and Josip Stritar
published a new edition of Prešeren's collection of poems. In the preface, Stritar published an essay which is still considered one of the most influential essays in Slovenian history. In it, he showed the aesthetic value of Prešeren's work by placing him in the wider European context. From then on, his reputation as the greatest poet in Slovene language was never endangered.
. By the early 1920s, all his surviving work had been catalogued and numerous critical editions of his works had been published. Several scholars were already dealing exclusively with the analysis of his work and little was left unknown about his life. In 1944, the anniversary of his death, called Prešeren Day
, was declared as the Slovenian Cultural Holiday. In 1990, the seventh stanza of his Zdravljica was declared the national anthem
of Slovenia, replacing the old Naprej zastava slave
. In 1992, his effigy was portrayed on the Slovenian 1000 tolar
banknote, and since 2007 his image is on the Slovenian two-euro coin
. The highest Slovenian prize for artistic achievements, the Prešeren Award
, is named after him.
His poems have been translated into several languages, although he still lacks the recognition accorded to some other poets of his rank.
Romantic poetry
Romanticism, a philosophical, literary, artistic and cultural era which began in the mid/late-1700s as a reaction against the prevailing Enlightenment ideals of the day , also influenced poetry...
. He is considered the Slovene national poet. Although he was not a particularly prolific author, he inspired virtually all Slovene literature thereafter.
Early life and education
Upper Carniola
Upper Carniola is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The centre of the region is Kranj, while other urban centers include Jesenice, Tržič, Škofja Loka, Kamnik, and Domžale.- Historical background :...
n village of Vrba, then part of the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
(today in Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
), to a relatively well-to-do peasant family. Already as a child, he showed considerable talent, so his parents decided to provide him with a good education. At the age of eight, he was sent to elementary schools in Grosuplje
Grosuplje
Grosuplje is a town and a municipality in central Slovenia. It lies just south of the capital Ljubljana in the traditional region of Lower Carniola. It is now included in the Central Slovenia statistical region....
and Ribnica, run by the local Roman Catholic clergy. In 1812, he moved to the Carniola
Carniola
Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...
n provincial capital of Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, where he attended the State Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
. Already at a very young age, he learned Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, as well as German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, which was then the language of education, administration and high culture
High culture
High culture is a term, now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture...
in most areas inhabited by Slovenes
Slovene Lands
Slovene Lands or Slovenian Lands is the historical denomination for the whole of the Slovene-inhabited territories in Central Europe. It more or less corresponds to modern Slovenia and the adjacent territories in Italy, Austria and Hungary in which autochthonous Slovene minorities live.-...
. In Ljubljana, Prešeren's talent was spotted by the poet Valentin Vodnik
Valentin Vodnik
Valentin Vodnik was a Slovene priest, journalist and poet from the late Enlightenment period.-Life and work:He was born in Šiška, now a suburb of Ljubljana, then part of the Habsburg Monarchy...
who encouraged him to develop his literary skills in the Slovene language. As a high school student, he became friends with the future philologist Matija Čop
Matija Cop
Matija Čop , also known in German as Matthias Tschop, was a Slovene linguist, literary historian and critic.- Biography :...
, who would have an extremely important influence on the development of Prešeren's poetry.
In 1821, Prešeren enrolled at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
, where he studied law, against the wishes of his mother who wanted him to become a priest. In Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, he became acquainted with the western canon
Western canon
The term Western canon denotes a canon of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. As such, it includes the "greatest works of artistic merit." Such a canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism and the...
from Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
to Goethe, but he was most fascinated by Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
and the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
trecentists
Trecento
The Trecento refers to the 14th century in Italian cultural history.Commonly the Trecento is considered to be the beginning of the Renaissance in art history...
, especially Petrarch
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...
and Boccaccio. He also read contemporary Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
poets, and he was even fired from the teaching post at the Klinkowström
Joseph von Klinkowström
Joseph von Klinkowström was a Jesuit missionary and the son of Friedrich August von Klinkowström of the Prussian noble family of Klinkowström....
's Jesuit institute for having lent a booklet of banned poetry to his friend Anastasius Grün
Anton Alexander Graf von Auersperg
Count Anton Alexander von Auersperg, also known under the pen name Anastasius Grün , was an Austrian poet and liberal politician from Carniola.-Biography:...
.
Later life
Law degree
A Law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers; but while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not themselves confer a license...
in 1828, he returned to Ljubljana, where he got employment as an assistant in the firm of the lawyer Leopold Baumgartner. He was constantly striving to become an independent lawyer by putting in as many as six applications, but he was not successful. In 1832, he shortly moved to Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt
-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...
in the hope of furthering his career, but returned to Ljubljana after less than a year. In the spring of 1833, he met Julija Primic, the daughter of a rich merchant, who would become the unfulfilled love of his life. In 1834, he began working as an assistant to his friend Blaž Crobath who gave Prešeren enough free time to engage in his literary activities. In the same year, he met the Czech romantic poet Karel Hynek Mácha
Karel Hynek Mácha
Karel Hynek Mácha was a Czech romantic poet.- Biography :Mácha grew up in Prague, the son of a foreman at a mill. He learned Latin and German in school...
and the Slovene-born Croatian poet Stanko Vraz
Stanko Vraz
Stanko Vraz was a Croatian-Slovenian poet. He Slavicized his name to Stanko Vraz in 1836.-Biography:...
and had long and fruitful discussions on poetry with them.
Around 1836, Prešeren finally realized that his love for Julija would never become mutual. The same year, he met Ana Jelovšek, with whom he entered into a permanent relationship. They had three children, but never married. Prešeren supported Ana financially and treated her as his rightful mate, but engaged in several other love affairs at the same time. He also spent a lot of time travelling throughout Carniola, especially to Lake Bled
Lake Bled
Lake Bled is a glacial lake in the Julian Alps in northwestern Slovenia, where it adjoins the town of Bled. The area is a popular tourist destination.-Geography and history:...
, from the scenery of which he drew inspiration for his poems. In 1846, Prešeren was finally allowed to open his own law firm and moved to Kranj
Kranj
' is the third largest municipality and fourth largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 54,500 . It is located approximately 20 km north-west of Ljubljana...
with his family. He died there on 8 February 1849. Upon his deathbed he confessed that he had never forgotten Julija.
In general, Prešeren's life was an unhappy one. He was confronted with constant rejections, had an unstable sentimental life, and saw most of his closest friends die tragically. He lived in confrontation with both the civil and religious establishment, as well as with the provincial bourgeoisie of Ljubljana. His talent was far too high to be fully acknowledged by the contemporary culturally backward society of Slovenia. He fell victim to severe drinking problems
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and tried to take his life
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
on at least two occasions. The motive of "the hostile fortune" is a frequent one in his works.
Early period
Prešeren's first serious poetic attempts date from his student years in Vienna. In 1824, he wrote some of his most popular poems, still under the influence of Valentin VodnikValentin Vodnik
Valentin Vodnik was a Slovene priest, journalist and poet from the late Enlightenment period.-Life and work:He was born in Šiška, now a suburb of Ljubljana, then part of the Habsburg Monarchy...
and the rich tradition of Slovenian folk poetry. In 1825, he completed a collection of "Carniolan songs", which he showed to the philologist Jernej Kopitar
Jernej Kopitar
Jernej Bartol Kopitar was a Slovene linguist and philologist working in Vienna. He also worked as the Imperial censor for Slovene literature in Vienna...
. Kopitar was very critical of the young man's literary attempts, so Prešeren destroyed the whole collection. Kopitar's rejection hindered the development of Prešeren's creativity; he did not publish anything more until 1827, when his satirical poem "To the Maidens" (Dekletom) was published by the German language journal Illyrisches Blatt. In 1828, Prešeren wrote his first important poem, A Farewell to Youth. It was however published only in 1830, in the literary journal Kranjska č'belica ("The Carniolan Bee"), established the same year by the publisher Miha Kastelic in Ljubljana.
In 1830, Prešeren's old high school friend Matija Čop returned to Ljubljana and re-established contacts with Prešeren. Čop soon recognized his friend's poetic talent and persuaded him to adopt Romanic poetic forms. Following Čop's advice, Prešeren would soon become a master of the sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
. His poems were noticed by the Czech scholar František Čelakovský
František Celakovský
František Ladislav Čelakovský, also known by the pseudonym Marcian Hromotluk, was a Czech writer and translator.-Life:...
who published several highly positive critiques of it. Čelakovský's praise was extremely important for Prešeren's self-esteem and gave him the strength to continue in the path on which Čop had orientated him.
The central period
Beatrice Portinari
Beatrice "Bice" di Folco Portinari was a Florentine woman known as the muse of the poet Dante Alighieri. Beatrice was the principal inspiration for Dante's Vita Nuova, and also appears as his guide in the Divine Comedy in the last book, Paradiso, and in the last four canti of Purgatorio...
and Petrarch's Laura, as can be seen in this first stanza of his poem Gazele:
The Wreath of Sonnets
The most important poem from this period is the crown of sonnets
Crown of sonnets
A crown of sonnets or sonnet corona is a sequence of sonnets, usually addressed to some one person, and/or concerned with a single theme....
Sonetni Venec ("A Wreath of Sonnets"), written and published in 1834. In it, Prešeren tied together the motives of his own unhappy love with that of an unhappy, subjugated homeland. In the seventh sonnet, Prešeren made something that was later seen as a prophecy of his own glory: referring to the ancient myth of Orpheus
Orpheus
Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
, he invoked the skies to send a new Orpheus to the Slovene people, the beauty of whose poetry would inspire patriotism, help overcome internal disputes and unify all Slovenes into one nation again. In the eighth sonnet, he went on in exposing the reasons why such an Orpheus—the metaphor for high culture in general and poetry in particular—had not yet been produced by the Slovenes. Exposing a decidedly negative vision of Slovenian history
History of Slovenia
The history of Slovenia chronicles the period of the Slovene territory from the 5th Century BC to the present times. In the Early Bronze Age, Proto-Illyrian tribes settled an area stretching from present-day Albania to the city of Trieste. The Holy Roman Empire controlled the land for nearly 1,000...
, consisting of nothing but foreign invasions and internal disputes ("the roar of tempests o'er a home unkind"), he maintained that it was the lack of glorious deeds that had hindered the flourishing of poetry. The few flowers of poetry still growing on the Slovenian Parnassus were fed only by tears and sighs:
But, he went on in the next sonnets, there was still hope for the renewal of Slovenian poetry and thus for the coming of an Orpheus that would unify all the nation with his gentle singing: Julija only had to "send rays from her eyes for their glory to renew". Prešeren's message was clear: if Julija accepted his advances, she would become the muse inspiring solemn poems which would bring a new high culture to the Slovenes and thus make them a nation again.
Besides the complex and sophisticated content, the "Wreath of Sonnets" has an interesting format, too: the last line of one sonnet becomes the first line of the next one, making all fourteen sonnets of the circle an intertwining "garland" of emotional lyricism; one sonnet cannot exist without the other. The first lines of all the single fourteen sonnets form in turn another sonnet, called the "Master Theme" or the Magistrale. In the English translation by Vivian de Sola Pinto
Vivian de Sola Pinto
Vivian de Sola Pinto was a British poet, literary critic and historian. He was a leading scholarly authority on D. H. Lawrence, and appeared for the defence in the 1960 Lady Chatterley's Lover trial....
the Master Theme is as follows:
In the Slovene original, however, the first letters of every verse form the words Primicovi Julji, meaning "to Julija Primic". The poem was recognized as a masterpiece by Matija Čop, but it did not gain much recognition beyond the small circle around the Kranjska č'belica magazine. Moreover, Julija was unimpressed. Understandably, Prešeren moved to more bitter verses.
The Sonnets of Unhappiness
Another important work from this period are the "Sonnets of Unhappiness" (Sonetje nesreče), which were first drafted already in 1832, but were published only in 1834, with some changes. They are undoubtedly the most pessimistic of Prešeren's works. It is a group of six (initially seven) sonnets expressing the poet's despair over life. The first sonnet
O Vrba
O Vrba is a sonnet written in 1832 by the Slovene Romantic poet France Prešeren, who is considered the national poet of Slovenia. It is the introductory exposition of a cycle of six sonnets named the Sonnets of Unhappiness . The sonnet is dedicated to the Prešeren's home village Vrba, expressing a...
, in which Prešeren debates about what his life could have been like had he never left his home village, became extremely popular during the late 19th century. In the 20th century, several musical interpretations of the poem were created, the most known a version by the Slovene folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
musician Vlado Kreslin
Vlado Kreslin
Vlado Kreslin in Beltinci, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia is a Slovenian folk rock musician.Kreslin was born in the village of Beltinci in the Prekmurje region of Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia. He began his musical career in his student years, first coming to acclaim as the lead singer with the rock...
. The other sonnets from the circle have not gained such a widespread popularity, but are still considered by scholars to be among Prešeren's most genuine and profound works.
After Čop's death
1835 was Prešeren's annus horibilis. His closest friend Matija Čop drowned while swimming in the Sava river, Julija Primic married a wealthy merchant, and Prešeren became alienated from his friend and editor of the Kranjska č'belica literary magazine Miha Kastelic. Following Čop's death, Prešeren wrote his magnum opus, The Baptism at Savica Falls , dedicating it to his late friend. The poem, set during the Christianisation of Karantanians in the late 8th century, addresses the issues of hope, faith and resignation. The philosopher Slavoj ŽižekSlavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, critical theorist working in the traditions of Hegelianism, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis. He has made contributions to political theory, film theory, and theoretical psychoanalysis....
interpreted the poem as a paradigmatic example of the emergence of modern subjectivity
Subject (philosophy)
In philosophy, a subject is a being that has subjective experiences, subjective consciousness or a relationship with another entity . A subject is an observer and an object is a thing observed...
.
In 1837, Prešeren met Emil Korytko
Emil Korytko
Emil Korytko was a Polish ethnographer, philologist and translator.Born in the village of Żeważa near Zaleszczyki in Austrian Galicia , he studied philosophy and philology at the University of Lwow, where he became acquainted with the Slovene philologist Matija Čop who taught at the University.He...
, a Polish political activist from Galicia, confined by the Austrian
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
authorities to Ljubljana. Korytko introduced to Prešeren the work of Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
, which had an important influence on his later works. The two even jointly translated one of Mickiewicz's poems (Resygnacja) from Polish to Slovenian and started collecting Slovenian folk songs in Carniola and Lower Styria
Lower Styria
Lower Styria or Slovenian Styria is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. The population of Lower Styria in its historical boundaries amounts to around 705,000 inhabitants, or 34.5% of the population of Slovenia...
. In 1839, Korytko died, leaving Prešeren without an important interlocutor
Interlocutor
Interlocutor may refer to:* Interlocutor , the master of ceremonies of a minstrel show* Interlocutor , someone who informally explains the views of a government and also can relay messages back to a government...
after Čop's death.
In the autumn of the same year, Andrej Smole, one of Prešeren's friends from his youth, returned home after many years of living and travelling abroad. Smole was a relatively rich young intellectual from a well-established merchant family, who supported the development of Slovenian culture. The two spent much of the winter of 1839-1840 on Smole's estate in Lower Carniola
Lower Carniola
Lower Carniola was a kreis of the historical Habsburg crown land of Carniola from 1849 till 1919 and is nowadays a traditional region of Slovenia. Its center is Novo Mesto, while other urban centers include Kočevje, Grosuplje, Krško, Trebnje, Mirna, Črnomelj, Semič, and Metlika.-See also:* Upper...
, where they planned several cultural and literary projects, including the establishment of a daily newspaper in the Slovenian language and the publishing of Anton Tomaž Linhart
Anton Tomaž Linhart
Anton Tomaž Linhart was a Slovene playwright and historian, best known as the author of the first comedy in Slovene, Županova Micka...
's comedy "Matiček's Wedding" which had been prohibited as "politically inappropriate" in 1790, due to the outbreak of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. Both projects failed: the planned journal Ilirske novice was blocked by the Viennese censorship, and Linhart's play would be staged only in 1848, without Prešeren's assistance. Smole died suddenly in 1840, literally in Prešeren's arms, while celebrating his 40th birthday. Prešeren dedicated a touching, yet unexpectedly cheerful and vitalist poem to his late friend.
The later years
After 1840, Prešeren was left without any interlocutor who could appreciate his works, but continued to write poetry, although much less than in the 1830s. He gradually departed from the typical romantic trend, adopting an increasingly diverse and innovative style. In 1843, an important breakthrough for Prešeren happened: Janez BleiweisJanez Bleiweis
Janez Bleiweis was a Slovene conservative politician, journalist and public figure. He was the leader of the so-called Old Slovene political movement. Already during his lifetime, he was called father of the nation....
started publishing a new daily journal in the Slovenian language and invited Prešeren to participate in its cultural section. The two men came from rather different backgrounds: Bleiweis was a moderate conservative and staunch supporter of the ecclesiastical and imperial establishments and alien to the Romantic culture. He nevertheless established a fair relationship with the poet. Prešeren's participation in Bleiweis' editorial project was the closest he would come to public recognition during his lifetime.
In 1844, he wrote the patriotic poem Zdravljica
Zdravljica
Zdravljica or Zdravica, written in 1844, is a poem by the Slovene Romantic poet France Prešeren, considered the national poet of Slovenes. Since 27 September 1989, its 7th stanza has been the national anthem of Slovenia....
("A Toast"), the most important achievement of his late period. In 1847, a volume of his collected poems was published under the simple title Poezije dr. Franceta Prešerna ("Poems of Dr. France Prešeren").
Prešeren spent the last two years of his life occupied with private life and his new job as a lawyer in Kranj. According to some accounts, he was planning several literary projects, including a novel in the realistic style
Literary realism
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...
and an experimental play, but he was struck with liver disease caused by his excessive drinking in prior years. The revolution of 1848 left him rather indifferent, although it was carried out by the young generation who already saw him as an idol of democratic and national
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
ideals. Before his death, he did however redact his Zdravljica, which was left out from the 1847 volume of poems, and made some minor adjustments for a new edition of his collected poems.
Reception and influence
Today, Prešeren is still considered one of the leading poets of Slovenian literature, acclaimed not only nationally or regionally, but also according to the standards of developed European literature. Prešeren was one of the greatest European Romanticists. His fervent, heartfelt lyrics, intensely emotional but never merely sentimental, have made him the chief representative of the Romantic schoolRomanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
in Slovenia.
Nevertheless, recognition came slow after his death. It was not before 1866 that a real breakthrough in the reception of his role in Slovenian culture took place. In that year, Josip Jurčič
Josip Jurcic
Josip Jurčič was a Slovene writer and journalist. He was born in Muljava, Austrian Empire and died in Ljubljana, Austria-Hungary...
and Josip Stritar
Josip Stritar
Josip Stritar was a Slovene writer, poet, playwright, publisher and translator.Stritar spent his early childhood in his home village in rural Lower Carniola and was sent to school in Ljubljana...
published a new edition of Prešeren's collection of poems. In the preface, Stritar published an essay which is still considered one of the most influential essays in Slovenian history. In it, he showed the aesthetic value of Prešeren's work by placing him in the wider European context. From then on, his reputation as the greatest poet in Slovene language was never endangered.
Legacy
Prešeren's legacy in Slovenian culture is enormous. He is generally regarded as the national poet. In 1905, his monument was placed in the central square in Ljubljana, now called Prešeren SquarePrešeren Square
Prešeren Square is the central square in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The square and surroundings have been closed to traffic since 1 September 2007. A scale model of the square is exhibited at Mini-Europe in Brussels in a proportion of 1:25 to the original.-Description:Prešeren Square was...
. By the early 1920s, all his surviving work had been catalogued and numerous critical editions of his works had been published. Several scholars were already dealing exclusively with the analysis of his work and little was left unknown about his life. In 1944, the anniversary of his death, called Prešeren Day
Prešeren Day
The Prešeren Day, the full name being Prešeren Day, the Slovenian Cultural Holiday , is a public holiday celebrated in Slovenia on 8 February. It is marking the anniversary of the death of the Slovene national poet France Prešeren on February 8, 1849...
, was declared as the Slovenian Cultural Holiday. In 1990, the seventh stanza of his Zdravljica was declared the national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
of Slovenia, replacing the old Naprej zastava slave
Naprej zastava slave
"Naprej zastava slave" is a Slovene poem that was used as the Slovenian national anthem between 1918 and 1990.It was written by Simon Jenko and set to music by Davorin Jenko on 16 May 1860....
. In 1992, his effigy was portrayed on the Slovenian 1000 tolar
Slovenian tolar
The tolar was the currency of Slovenia from 1991 until the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2007. It was subdivided into 100 stotins...
banknote, and since 2007 his image is on the Slovenian two-euro coin
Slovenian euro coins
Slovenian euro coins were first issued for circulation on 1 January 2007 and a unique feature is designed for each coin. The design of approximately 230 million Slovenian euro coins was unveiled on 7 October 2005. The designers were Miljenko Licul, Maja Licul and Janez Boljka...
. The highest Slovenian prize for artistic achievements, the Prešeren Award
Prešeren Award
Prešeren Award is the highest decoration in the field of artistic and in the past also scientific creation in Slovenia awarded each year to one or two eminent Slovene artists...
, is named after him.
His poems have been translated into several languages, although he still lacks the recognition accorded to some other poets of his rank.
Sources
- Henry Ronald Cooper, Francè Prešeren (Boston, Mass.: Twayne, 1981).
- France Kidrič, Prešernov album (Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, 1949).
- Janko KosJanko KosJanko Kos is a Slovenian literary historian, theoretician and critic.He was born in Ljubljana in what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the son of the painter and sculptor Tine Kos...
, Prešeren in evropska romantika (Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, 1970). - Janko KosJanko KosJanko Kos is a Slovenian literary historian, theoretician and critic.He was born in Ljubljana in what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as the son of the painter and sculptor Tine Kos...
, Pregled slovenskega slovstva (Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, 1998). - Janko Lavrin, Francè Prešeren : 1800-1849 (London, 1955).
- Rastko MočnikRastko MocnikRastko Močnik is a Slovenian sociologist, literary theorist, translator and political activist. Together with Slavoj Žižek and Mladen Dolar, he is considered one of the co-founders of the Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis....
, Julija Primic v slovenski književni vedi (Ljubljana: Sophia, 2006). - Boris Paternu, France Prešeren: poeta sloveno (Gorizia: Goriška Mohorjeva družba, 1999).
- Anton Slodnjak, Prešernovo življenje (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1974).