O Vrba
Encyclopedia
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 sense of general melancholy over the lost idyll of the rural environment. According to contemporary Slovene literary critics, especially Marija Pirjevec, Boris Paternu and Janko Kos
, the meaning of the sonnet is centered on the problem of insecurity and unhappiness of a free subject
detached from the theocentric
world view. The sonnet form follows the rules abstracted by August Wilhelm Schlegel from the sonnets of Petrarch.
O Vrba became extremely popular during the late 19th century. In the 20th century, several musical interpretations of the poem were created, the most known of them probably being a version by the Slovene folk rock
musician Vlado Kreslin
.
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"...
written in 1832 by the Slovene Romantic poet
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...
France Prešeren
France Prešeren
France Prešeren 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....
, who is considered the national poet 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...
. It is the introductory exposition of a cycle
Sonnet cycle
A sonnet cycle is a group of sonnets, arranged to address a particular person or theme, and designed to be read both as a collection of fully realized individual poems and as a single poetic work comprising all the individual sonnets....
of six sonnets named the Sonnets of Unhappiness . The sonnet is dedicated to the Prešeren's home village Vrba, expressing a sense of general melancholy over the lost idyll of the rural environment. According to contemporary Slovene literary critics, especially Marija Pirjevec, Boris Paternu and Janko Kos
Janko Kos
Janko 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...
, the meaning of the sonnet is centered on the problem of insecurity and unhappiness of a free subject
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...
detached from the theocentric
Theocentricism
Theocentricism is the belief that God is the central aspect to our existence, as opposed to, for instance, anthropocentrism or existentialism ....
world view. The sonnet form follows the rules abstracted by August Wilhelm Schlegel from the sonnets of Petrarch.
O Vrba became extremely popular during the late 19th century. In the 20th century, several musical interpretations of the poem were created, the most known of them probably being 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...
.
External links
- France Prešeren: Poems: O, Vrba, happy village. Preseren.net. English translation by Alasdair Mackinnon. Accessed on April 21, 2008.