Simon Gregorčič (15 October 1844 – 24 November 1906) was a Slovene

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

. He is considered the first

lyric poet Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, t ...

of the Slovene realist poetry and the most melodical Slovene poet.

Biography

Gregorčič (October 15, 1844 – November 24, 1906) was born in the small mountain village of Vrsno above the

Soča Soča (, in Slovene) or Isonzo (, in Italian; other names: ; ; or ') is a long river that flows through western Slovenia () and northeastern Italy (). An Alpine river in character, its source lies in the Trenta Valley in the Julian Alps ...

river in the

County of Gorizia and Gradisca The Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca (; ; ), historically sometimes shortened to and spelled "Goritz", was a crown land of the Habsburg dynasty within the Austrian Littoral on the Adriatic Sea, in what is now a multilingual border area of ...

as a second son of a small farmer Jernej Gregorčič and his wife Katarina (maiden name Gaberšček). He had seven siblings. As a young boy he was a shepherd. In 1851, he attended primary school in Libušnje, but was sent to school in

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

in 1852. After finishing high school he entered the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

in Gorizia. He was ordained on October 27, 1867, and became a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

Kobarid Kobarid (; ; ; ) is a settlement in Slovenia, the administrative centre of the Municipality of Kobarid. Kobarid is known for the 1917 Battle of Caporetto, where the Italian retreat was documented by Ernest Hemingway in his novel '' A Farewell t ...

in September 1868. There he continued with his literary work and together with his friend Ignacij Gruntar in 1871 founded a public reading room. Actually, Ignacij Gruntar was not only very good friend to Simon, but also his patron; in fact, the first poem book by Simon has been published thanks to the financial support of Dr. Ignacij Gruntar, notary in Kobarid and Logatec. In 1872, Dragojila Milek came to Kobarid as a teacher. She was a poet as well. She led the local female choir and she became a secretary of the reading room founded by Gregorčič. His affection to Milek was deemed the reason for his transfer in the spring of 1873. His romantic experience had a great effect on the content of the poet's writing. In 1873 he was transferred to Rihemberk in the

Vipava Valley The Vipava Valley (; , , ) is a valley in the Slovenian Littoral, roughly between the village of Podnanos to the east and the border with Italy to the west. The main towns are Ajdovščina and Vipava. Geography The narrow valley of the Vipav ...

. After that he was transferred a few more times before retiring in 1903, selling his house and moving into an apartment in Gorizia where he died on November 24, 1906.

Work

As a student he began writing

lyrical poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, ...

which was published in many literary magazines ( Slovenski glasnik, Zgodnja Danica, Zvon,

Ljubljanski zvon ''Ljubljanski zvon'' (The Ljubljana Bell) was a Literary magazine, journal published in Ljubljana in Slovene language, Slovene between 1881 and 1941. It was considered one of the most prestigious literary and cultural magazines in Slovenia. Earl ...

). It is apparent from his work that he was inspired by Romantic poetic forms. Mostly he was writing love, patriotic, life narrative poems and even some epic poems. His poems, such as the

ode An ode (from ) is a type of lyric poetry, with its origins in Ancient Greece. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structu ...

"'' Soči''" ("To the

"), were patriotic in nature, but he also wrote love poems, such as '' Kropiti te ne smem'' ("I am not allowed to bless you"), and worked in other poetic genres. His most important works were '' Človeka nikar'', '' Ujetega ptiča tožba ("The Snared Bird's Lament")'', '' Moj črni plašč'', '' Veseli pastir'', '' Nazaj v planinski raj'', '' Oljki''. He succeeded with his first collection '' Prvi zvezek Poezij'' (1882) and after six years he released his second collection '' Drugi zvezek Poezij'' (1888). In 1902 his third collection '' Tretji zvezek Poezij'' came out and then after his death the fourth collection '' Četrti zvezek Poezij'' (1908) was released. Slovene composer Breda Šček set Gregorčič's texts to music. Influences: Petrarca, Vodnik, Stritar, Prešeren.

Bibliography

* ''Poezije I'' (1882) * ''Poezije II'' (1888) * ''Poezije III'' (1902) * ''Poezije IV'' (1908) - published after his death * ''Izbrano delo I-IV'' (1947–1951)

References

External links

Simon Gregorčič: ''Job in psalem 118'' – Svetopisemska knjiga
* ttp://www.rutars.net/sr_01_stefan_rutar/sr_2400_kultzadeve/sr_2431_sgjeremija/index.htm Simon Gregorčič: ''Jeremijeve žalostinke''* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregorcic, Simon 1844 births 1906 deaths People from the Municipality of Kobarid People from Austrian Littoral Slovenian poets Slovenian male poets 19th-century Slovenian Roman Catholic priests Slovenian Catholic poets 19th-century poets

Biography

Work

Bibliography

See also

References

External links