Džore Držic
Encyclopedia
Džore Držić (February 6, 1461 – September 26, 1501) was a Croatia
n poet
and playwright
, one of the fathers of Croatian literature
.
This respectable citizen of Dubrovnik
, the uncle of the greatest Croatian playwright Marin Držić
, the rector of the Church of All Saints, the chancellor of the Dubrovnik chapter
, a contemporary of the poet Marko Marulić
, created a poetic opus that became a primal expression of the linguistic form that would become the official Croatian language
.
His poetry proves that his humanist
roots had a beneficial effect on his poetic diction and other qualities, such as discreetness and spirituality. It makes his love poems much different than those of his older contemporary and eternal rival, Šiško Menčetić
. Držić's Pjesni ljuvene (Love Poems) must have been very popular in Dubrovnik. By the time the noble Nikša Ranjina
started filling his famous manuscript collection with love poems composed by young citizens of Dubrovnik for their ladies, Džore Držić was six years dead, but Ranjina included his poems. It means they were recited and remembered.
In fact, they are easy to remember. Some of his poems go beyond the conventional rhetorical style of Petrarch
ist poetry. Their graceful and warm verses, remindful of folk songs, are above almost everything else in the Ranjina's Miscellany, the oldest collection of Croatian Petrarchist lyric. Today's favorite is the refined and graceful poem Odiljam se (I Am Going Away), in verses of sixteen syllables, simple and warm, with a hint of bugarštica, a kind of a ballad
.
His eclogue
Radmio and Ljubmir, found only recently, was written in the late 15th century. It is the first Croatian play with a secular
theme, opening a new period of the Croatian theater, which is reason enough to hail its writer as the initiator of the modern Croatian theater.
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
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, one of the fathers of 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....
.
This respectable citizen of Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
, the uncle of the greatest Croatian playwright Marin Držić
Marin Držic
Marin Držić is considered the finest Croatian Renaissance playwright and prose writer.- Life :Born into a large and well to do family in Dubrovnik, Držić was trained and ordained as a priest — a calling very unsuitable for his rebel temperament...
, the rector of the Church of All Saints, the chancellor of the Dubrovnik chapter
Chapter (religion)
Chapter designates certain corporate ecclesiastical bodies in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Nordic Lutheran churches....
, a contemporary of the poet Marko Marulić
Marko Marulic
Marko Marulić |Split]], 18 August 1450 – Split, 5 January 1524) was a Croatian national poet and Christian humanist, known as the Crown of the Croatian Medieval Age and the father of the Croatian Renaissance. He signed his works as Marko Marulić Splićanin , Marko Pečenić, Marcus Marulus ...
, created a poetic opus that became a primal expression of the linguistic form that would become the official Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
.
His poetry proves that his humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
roots had a beneficial effect on his poetic diction and other qualities, such as discreetness and spirituality. It makes his love poems much different than those of his older contemporary and eternal rival, Šiško Menčetić
Šiško Mencetic
Šišmundo Menčetić Vlahović, , or Sigismondo Menze was a poet from the Republic of Ragusa, chiefly creating his opus in the 15th century.-Biography:...
. Držić's Pjesni ljuvene (Love Poems) must have been very popular in Dubrovnik. By the time the noble Nikša Ranjina
Nikša Ranjina
Nikša Andretić Ranjina or Nicola Ragnina was a writer and noblemen from the Republic of Ragusa , most famous as the compiler of Ranjina's Miscellany....
started filling his famous manuscript collection with love poems composed by young citizens of Dubrovnik for their ladies, Džore Držić was six years dead, but Ranjina included his poems. It means they were recited and remembered.
In fact, they are easy to remember. Some of his poems go beyond the conventional rhetorical style of 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"...
ist poetry. Their graceful and warm verses, remindful of folk songs, are above almost everything else in the Ranjina's Miscellany, the oldest collection of Croatian Petrarchist lyric. Today's favorite is the refined and graceful poem Odiljam se (I Am Going Away), in verses of sixteen syllables, simple and warm, with a hint of bugarštica, a kind of a ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
.
His eclogue
Eclogue
An eclogue is a poem in a classical style on a pastoral subject. Poems in the genre are sometimes also called bucolics.The form of the word in contemporary English is taken from French eclogue, from Old French, from Latin ecloga...
Radmio and Ljubmir, found only recently, was written in the late 15th century. It is the first Croatian play with a secular
Secularity
Secularity is the state of being separate from religion.For instance, eating and bathing may be regarded as examples of secular activities, because there may not be anything inherently religious about them...
theme, opening a new period of the Croatian theater, which is reason enough to hail its writer as the initiator of the modern Croatian theater.
See also
- Republic of RagusaRepublic of RagusaThe Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...
- List of notable Ragusans
- DubrovnikDubrovnikDubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
- DalmatiaDalmatiaDalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
- History of DalmatiaHistory of DalmatiaThe History of Dalmatia concerns the history of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and its inland regions, stretching from the 2nd century BC up to the present....