“I think that there hasn’t been a single learned Serb so far to sing like this Radičević, and he sings as any Serbian poet should”, are the words of Đura Daničić, Branko’s blood brother and another well-known follower of Vuk Karadzic. This comment best describes a furore the first Branko Radičević’s book of poems caused in Serbia and Austria in 1847. Besides being the first lyrical poems in the Serbian literature (apart from the folk ones), they the first written in the reformed Vuk’s, popular language, for which Daničić said, “And the language in the books is clear as crystal” When in the same year the Vuk’s translation of the New Testament was published and the Njegoš’s the Mountain Wreath, it was the year of victory of the Vuk’s reform – a proof that literature could be created in a popular language. Branko was a true example of a Romantic poet – his poetry is interlaced with love of his popular language, depths of feelings and the love of life, joie de vivre, as well as with the sorrow of a fleeting life and certain death. He wrote only 54 lyrical and several epic poems (the latter of no great importance), but the three collections of poems (one published posthumously) were quite enough for him to be ranked, along with Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, among the most significant Serbian poets of the Romantic era. Branko Radičević comes from Serbian Vojvodina, at that time a part of Austro-Hungary. He was born in 1824 in Slavonski Brod, and attended the famous Karlovcic Grammar School. Karlovci and particularly Stražilovo would be crucial for him. The period he spent in Vienna made it possible for him to be in a close and friendly contact with Vuk Karadžić and his family. Branko died in 1853 of consumption, in the arms of Vuk’s wife, Ana. He rest at Stražilovo, a Fruška Gora peak above Sremski Karlovci.
LANGUAGE
Branko Radičević’s christened name was Aleksije, but he changed into a “Serbian” one, Branko. The name Aleksije comoes from Greek aleksios, meaning, protection, defence, prevention. So Branko was the one who protects and defends.
ART
The famous poem – Parting of School Friends. The Brankovo kolo (Branko’s Circle Dance)expresses the idea of the brotherhood among the South Slavic peoples. Poems: Kad mlidija umreti (As I Thought I Was Dying, Stražilovo and others.
GEOGRAPHY
The monument to B. Radičević was erected 1885 on Stražilovo and was made of stone pieces taken from all the Serbian lands mountains.