Anniversary of the death of great Bosnian poet Aleksa Šantić

MOSTAR, (Patria) - Aleksa Šantić was a Bosnian-Herzegovinian poet and one of the most famous representatives of modern lyric poetry in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was born on 27 May 1868 and died on 2 February 1924.

He spent most of his life in his native Mostar. After his father died, his strict uncle took over his care. He had two brothers, Pero and Jakov, and a sister Radojka, who married his friend Svetozar Ćorović.

He lived in a merchant family that had no understanding for his talent. After finishing commercial school in Trieste and Ljubljana, he returned to his native Mostar.

He was also one of the founders of the cultural magazine "Zora" and president of the Serbian Singing Society "Gusle" in Mostar. There he met and socialised with famous poets of the time: Svetozar Ćorović, Jovan Dučić, Osman Đikić and others.

In his poetic development, the poets Vojislav Ilić and Jovan Jovanović-Zmaj had the greatest influence, while among foreign poets, Heinrich Heine had the most important influence, whom he also translated from German.

Šantić reached his greatest poetic maturity between 1905 and 1910, when his most beautiful poems were also created.