Branko Miljković (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and was significantly reformed in the 19th cen ...

: Бранко Миљковић; 29 January 1934 – 12 February 1961) was a Serbian poet.

Biography

Miljković was born in

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...

to a

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

father Gligorije Miljković, who hails from Gadžin Han, and a

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

mother Marija Brailo, who hails from Trbounje near

Drniš Drniš is a town in the Šibenik-Knin County, Croatia. Located in the Dalmatian Hinterland, it is about halfway between Šibenik and Knin. History The name Drniš was mentioned for the first time in a contract dated March 8, 1494. However, the ...

. He was best known throughout

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and other countries of the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

for his influential writings. At a time when no one could have foreseen anything but a bright future for the poet, he died prematurely in 1961 at the age of 27. He was found hanging from a tree in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, today's

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. This controversial incident was officially recorded as a suicide. In his one-line poem "Epitaph", he writes "''Ubi me prejaka reč''" ("''I was killed by a word too strong''") almost sensing his premature end of life. During the last years of his life, he published five books of poetry (''I Wake Her in Vain'', ''Death against Death'', ''The Origin of Hope'', ''Fire and Nothing'', ''The Shining Blood'', criticism, and translations of the French Symbolists and Russian poet

Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam (, ; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school. Osip Mandelstam was arrested during the repressions of the 1930s and sent into internal exile wi ...

. He continues to influence poets to this day.

Legacy

A biopic about Miljković's life and poetry ''Vatra i ništa'' ('Fire and Nothing') was produced in 1995. It was written and directed by , and produced by Ivan Zdravković. Goran Milev played the role of Branko Miljković. He is sometimes called "the Serbian prince of poetry". In 2024, several of his poems were included in Buenos Aires Poetry n°1, in Serbian, English and Spanish.

Works

* ''Uzalud je budim'',

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, 1957 * ''Smrću protiv smrti'', (co-written with Blažo Šćepanović), Belgrade, 1959 * ''Vatra i ništa'', Belgrade, 1960 * ''Poreklo nade'', Zagreb, 1960 * ''Krv koja svetli'', Belgrade, 1961

References

External links

Translated works by Branko Miljković

Short biography written by Kosta Dimitrijević and published on Poemhunter website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miljkovic, Branko 1934 births 1961 deaths 1961 suicides Writers from Niš 20th-century Serbian poets Serbian male poets Serbian people of Croatian descent University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy alumni Suicides by hanging in Yugoslavia Suicides by hanging in Croatia Death conspiracy theories Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery