Vladimir Vidric
Encyclopedia
Vladimir Vidrić was a Croatia
n poet. He is considered one of the major figures of the Croatian secessionist
poetry.
, in an affluent family of Slovenia
n origin. He was one of the leaders of the group of demonstrators that 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
. After obtaining his Ph.D. in 1903, he did not pursue an academic career, but became a lawyer.
He started writing poems in high school, but his real literary start was the poem Boni mores, published in Vienac in 1897. He wrote very little before his premature death: around 40 poems, most of which were published by him in the collection entitled simply Pjesme (Poems) in 1907.
He was known for his adventurous life, great intelligence and prodigious memory (he used to spend whole evenings reciting poetry to his amazed friends; he always did admirably well at school) and his affiliation with the controversial progressive political circles.
Vidrić died in obscure circumstances in the mental hospital in the Zagreb
suburb of Vrapče
.
character. His images of a barbaric, classical and mythological world are very personal. Vidrić was an impressionist with a very strong visual imagination.
His best poems - like Jutro (Morning), Dva pejzaža (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 Matoš
, accused him of technical imperfections, wrong accent
s in rhyme
s and raw style. Actually, regarding the structure of his poems, he was a man before his time, since he did not base his rhythm
on feet
, but on the main accents
.
This is how Vidrić was described by the great Croatian literary historian Ivo Frangeš: Vidrić'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.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n poet. He is considered one of the major figures of the Croatian secessionist
Vienna Secession
The Vienna Secession was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian artists who had resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists, housed in the Vienna Künstlerhaus. This movement included painters, sculptors, and architects...
poetry.
Life
Vidrić was born in ZagrebZagreb
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...
, in an affluent family of 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...
n origin. He was one of the leaders of the group of demonstrators that burned the Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
flag on the occasion of the emperor Franz Joseph
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
's visit to Zagreb in 1895. He studied law in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
and 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...
. After obtaining his Ph.D. in 1903, he did not pursue an academic career, but became a lawyer.
He started writing poems in high school, but his real literary start was the poem Boni mores, published in Vienac in 1897. He wrote very little before his premature death: around 40 poems, most of which were published by him in the collection entitled simply Pjesme (Poems) in 1907.
He was known for his adventurous life, great intelligence and prodigious memory (he used to spend whole evenings reciting poetry to his amazed friends; he always did admirably well at school) and his affiliation with the controversial progressive political circles.
Vidrić died in obscure circumstances in the mental hospital in the 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...
suburb of Vrapče
Vrapce
Vrapče is a neighborhood of western Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. It is administratively part of the district Podsused—Vrapče. Vrapče consists of Donje Vrapče and Gornje Vrapče...
.
Poetry
As a rule, his poetic atmospheres develop from a concrete scene. The poet is lost or hidden in a mythologicalMythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
character. His images of a barbaric, classical and mythological world are very personal. Vidrić was an impressionist with a very strong visual imagination.
His best poems - like Jutro (Morning), Dva pejzaža (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 Matoš
Antun Gustav Matoš
Antun Gustav Matoš was a Croatian poet, short story writer, journalist, essayist and travelogue writer. He is considered the champion of Croatian modernist literature, opening Croatia to the currents of European modernism, and one of the greatest Croatian literary figures of all time.-Life:Matoš...
, accused him of technical imperfections, wrong accent
Accent (poetry)
In poetry, accent refers to the stressed syllable of a polysyllabic word, or a monosyllabic word that receives stress because it belongs to an "open class" of words or because of "contrastive" or "rhetorical" stress. In basic analysis of a poem by scansion, accents are represented with a slash...
s in rhyme
Rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...
s and raw style. Actually, regarding the structure of his poems, he was a man before his time, since he did not base his rhythm
Meter (poetry)
In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
on feet
Foot (prosody)
The foot is the basic metrical unit that generates a line of verse in most Western traditions of poetry, including English accentual-syllabic verse and the quantitative meter of classical ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The unit is composed of syllables, the number of which is limited, with a few...
, but on the main accents
Accentual verse
Accentual verse has a fixed number of stresses per line or stanza regardless of the number of syllables that are present. It is common in languages that are stress-timed, such as English—as opposed to syllabic verse, which is common in syllable-timed languages, such as French.- Children's poetry...
.
This is how Vidrić was described by the great Croatian literary historian Ivo Frangeš: Vidrić'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.