ALEKSA ŠANTIĆ. Considering how much I know the city of Mostar and my country, I could say that this poet raised Mostar to its feet in his verses and that he said the most about the city between the lines. Who knows about Mostar, knows about Aleksa Šantić. Only a song can describe him. The city of Behar, garden and fountain, grew together with Santic. He weaved all the beauty of the Neretva, the Old Bridge, difficult human destinies, unhappy loves and the beautiful Emina and with his verses took them to heaven. He was a Serbian poet and academic. He was born in Mostar in 1868.
He lost his father in his early childhood, so he lived with his mother with his uncle in an old trading family who had no understanding for his talent and was forced to finish trade school. In his youth he was very withdrawn, he read books and studied, and a few years later he began his literary work. In his works he tried to connect the ideological and poetic suffering of the 19th and 20th centuries. Where the Neretva and the stone of the Old Bridge meet, Šantić grew and lived. The leaden weight of loneliness in a deserted home where he was not understood and accepted is comforted by songs. He looked at poets as his family.
In 1878 he published the first poem in the magazine "Golub" and since 1891 the verses have been dedicated to the black-eyed Maria. Between 1894 and 1895, the poet dedicated every letter, note and verse to a new love he painted in verse, Anka Tomlinović, whom he loved very much. Anka also loved Alex and admired his talent. She was the daughter of Stjepan, who had photo studios in Mostar. Every day he sat in his shop with the hope that he would see his Anka and that he would illuminate his soul and heart with his gaze and the beautiful gentle sweep of his hair. For him, she was unreal, always mysterious alone or accompanied by her older brother, walking the cobblestones of Mostar. They spent their days talking about literature and on one occasion she admitted to him that she was intentionally going out at the same time hoping he would figure it out and leave everything waiting for him to tick that clock to see her.
The first courtship was by Santic writing her verses dedicated only to her. He gave the poem to Anka, but after reading it, she turned to the paper and went down the street, saying: "As for what you want, I will!"
However, as it happens today, and it was then, dreams remained only dreams. In the same year, the poet experiences great disappointment, his Anka loses her youthful vivacity and great problems arise between families. His first riots ensued because he was a man who felt deep suffering and pain. He was hurt by Mostar because the small community did not have an understanding for the love of Serbs and Croats. Santic's uncle and mother were strictly against it. They claimed that Anka wanted his wealth and thus secured her future. Santic tried to cope with his family, but there was no way. Sadness, pain and suffering crept into his life and his verses.
One day, his mother took him in front of the icon of Saint Nicholas and swore with the words: "if you bring her into the house, your mother will greet you dead." the black veil will be your wedding guests. "
Having no other choice, Santic raised his hands and left his muse, and a year after the break-up she married an older man and left Mostar forever, she went to live in Zagreb. If you are a difficult human destiny, you give your heart to love, to love, and then you rip out every part of it. Her wedding guests passed by his house and he saw them off with tears. And so begins a pessimistic period and riots that will last until 1900.
He founded the newspaper "Zora" and was the president of the Serbian Singing Association "Gusle". He reached his greatest poetic maturity between 1905 and 1910, when his most beautiful poems were written. In 1907, Mostar elected him as one of four representatives for its assembly. Beloved Mostar was best described with the song "Emina".
During World War I he was imprisoned as a hostage and accused of his songs. After the end of the war, he was elected a member of the Serbian Board in Mostar. He died of tuberculosis in his hometown of Mostar in 1924.
His most famous poems are:
Emina - 1903
Don't believe it - 1905
Stay here - 1896
Pre-holiday evening - 1910
Oh my wheat - 1910
My homeland - 1908
Author of the aricle
Amila Hasečić - contact: [email protected]
