Juraj Baraković (1548 – August 1, 1628) was a

Croat The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Ge ...

ian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

poet from

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ser ...

. Baraković was born in the village of Plemići, Rtina. He wrote several distinguished pieces (''"Jarula"'', Venice 1618 - Old and New Testament in storytelling form; ''"Draga, rapska pastirica"''), but one work excels in his literary opus: complicated and the most explicitly manneristic epic in 13 books ''"Vila slovinka"'' (Venice, 1613). Most of Baraković's poetry was dedicated to the glory of Zadar, with firm reliance on his co-citizen

Petar Zoranić Petar Zoranić (1508 – before 1569) was a Croatian writer and poet from Zadar. He is most important as the author of ''Planine'', regarded as the first Croatian novel. Pastoral in nature, the novel was written in 1538 and published in 1569. ...

that already left a notable mark on

Croatian literature Croatian literature refers to literary works attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats, Croatia, and Croatian. Besides the modern language whose shape and orthography was standardized in the late 19th century, it also covers t ...

. ''"Vila slovinka"'', an epic written in the glory of Zadar, has two especially notable features: in the eighth book the eleven octosyllabic sonnets are listed, which are, beside a few anonymously written ones in Ranjina's Miscellany, the only sonnets in Croatian poetry before the

Illyrian movement The Illyrian movement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ilirski pokret, Илирски покрет; sl, Ilirsko gibanje) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian inte ...

. The same book contains perfectly stylised ''bugarščica'' about Mother Margarita, which astonishes both readers and philologists for centuries, still leaving to be determined whether is it a folk song that Baraković incorporated into his own work following the model of

Petar Hektorović Petar Hektorović (1487 – 13 March 1572) was a Croatian writer. Hektorović, also known as Pietro Ettoreo or Piero Hettoreo, was born and died in Stari Grad, Hvar. He was a poet and collector of Hvar's fishermen songs, and an important ...

, or is it his own song adapted to the stylistic features of the folk poem stanzas, or the folk song enhanced by Baraković's skillful poetical and artistic genius. Baraković died in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, the city he visited three times in his life.

Sources

* 1548 births 1628 deaths 17th-century Croatian poets 16th-century Croatian people Writers from Zadar Republic of Venice poets Venetian Slavs Croatian male poets 17th-century Italian male writers {{Croatia-poet-stub