Branko Miljković

Biography

Miljković was born in Niš to a Serb father Gligorije Miljković, who hails from Gadžin Han, and a Croat mother Marija Brailo, who hails from Trbounje near Drniš.

He was best known throughout Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and other countries of the Eastern Bloc for his influential writings. At a time when no one could have foreseen anything but a bright future for the poet, he died prematurely in 1961 at the age of 27. He was found hanging from a tree in Zagreb, today's Croatia. This controversial incident was officially recorded as a suicide.

In his one-line poem "Epitaph", he writes "Ubi me prejaka reč" ("I was killed by a word too strong") almost sensing his premature end of life. During the last years of his life, he published five books of poetry (I Wake Her in Vain, Death against Death, The Origin of Hope, Fire and Nothing, The Shining Blood, criticism, and translations of the French Symbolists and Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. He continues to influence poets to this day.

Legacy

A biopic about Miljković's life and poetry Vatra i ništa ('Fire and Nothing') was produced in 1995. It was written and directed by , and produced by Ivan Zdravković. Goran Milev played the role of Branko Miljković.

He is sometimes called "the Serbian prince of poetry". In 2024, several of his poems were included in Buenos Aires Poetry n°1, in Serbian, English and Spanish.

Works

• Uzalud je budim, Belgrade, 1957
• Smrću protiv smrti, (co-written with Blažo Šćepanović), Belgrade, 1959
• Vatra i ništa, Belgrade, 1960
• Poreklo nade, Zagreb, 1960
• Krv koja svetli, Belgrade, 1961

References

References

1. Politika. (2011-10-02). "Kako je stradao Branko Miljković".
2. (27 November 2013). "Branko Miljković – biografija".
3. (29 January 2021). "Branko Miljković: "Jedan nesretan čovjek ne može biti pjesnik"".
4. (5 February 2011). "Princ poezije na prokletom tlu".
5. Politika. (2011-03-10). "Izložba o Branku Miljkoviću".
6. (2011-12-29). "Filmsko veče posvećeno Branku Miljkoviću u Domu vojske".
7. Serbia, RTS, Radio televizija Srbije, Radio Television of. "Бранко Миљковић – принц поезије којег је убила прејака реч".
8. Passes, Pipa. (2024-08-23). "Buenos Aires Poetry n°1 (Nueva Época)".