Songs of the Sun, Love and Death: Selected Poems, a Bilingual Edition

This revised edition offers new a English translation of Jovan Ducic's poetry.
Jovan Ducic appeared at the turn of the century, a crucial point in the history of Serbian Literature when the era of Romantic and Realist poetry was coming to an end and another, Modernism, was just beginning. By introducing new themes and sources of inspiration, Ducic was instrumental in setting Serbian poetry on a new course. He was an aesthete who possessed a cultivated and refined taste as well as an aristocratic spirit. He is the foremost practitioner of l art pour l art in Serbian Literature. In his poetry, he strove for formal excellence expressed through clarity, precision, elegance, musical quality, and imagery. His subject matter and unique style reflect the manner of French verse Parnassian, Symbolist, Decadent. Unlike previous Serbian poets who were either romantically or realistically oriented, Ducic was attracted to esoteric, sophisticated, thought-provoking, and soul-searching themes, so he created his own imaginary world and reacted to it. His poetry reveals an artist with an essentially pessimistic disposition, for which he has sometimes been criticized; it also reveals his embrace of art for art s sake. His supreme craftsmanship, however, is undeniable.