Il Ciclo del Cossovo di Milan Rakić
The Cycle of Kosovo by Milan Rakić

Summary/Abstract: The essay examines one of the central themes of the work of Milan Rakić, one of thegreatest exponents of Serbian Modernism: the cycle of compositions that focus on thehistory and current affairs of that region, which has always been disputed by Serbs andAlbanians. These poems arise from Rakić’s personal experience in Kosovo, still subjectto the Ottoman Empire, where he was sent at the beginning of his diplomatic career.Of the seven poems in the cycle, five sing about the tragic destiny of that land, the cradleof Serbian religiosity; one, Na Gazi Mestanu, associates the taste for historical reenactmentsof Parnassi’s poetics with the passionate defense and proud exaltation of the Serbianpeople who in centuries-old relations with their homeland have drawn the stimulusfor rebirth; the last, Legacy, the most evocative and vibrant, raises that indissoluble bondwith the spiritual richness of the past as a reason for existential comfort. What the loveof a woman was not been able to give to the poet is offered to him by the rediscoveredcommunion with the historical consciousness of his own race.

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