Džore Držić

Džore Držić (Croatian pronunciation: [dʒǒːre dř̩ːʒitɕ]; Italian: Giorgio Darsa) (February 6, 1461 – September 26, 1501) was a Ragusan poet and playwright, one of the fathers of Croatian literature.

A citizen of the Republic of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik, Croatia), the uncle of the great Croatian playwright Marin Držić, the rector of the Church of All Saints, the chancellor of the Dubrovnik chapter, a contemporary of the poet Marko Marulić, created a poetic opus that became a primal expression of the linguistic form that would become the official Croatian language.

Držić's Pjesni ljuvene (Love Poems) were included by the noble Nikša Ranjina in his manuscript collection which also held love poems composed by other young citizens of Dubrovnik for their ladies. Držić had been deceased for six years, but Ranjina included his poems.

Some of his poems go beyond the conventional rhetorical style of Petrarchist poetry. Their warm verses, reminiscent of folk songs, are in the Ranjina's Miscellany. They include the poem Odiljam se (I Am Going Away), in verses of sixteen syllables, with a hint of bugarštica.

His eclogue Radmio and Ljubmir, found only recently, was written in the late 15th century. It is the first Croatian play with a secular theme, opening a new period of the Croatian theater.

See also

• Republic of Ragusa
• List of notable Ragusans
• Dubrovnik
• Dalmatia
• History of Dalmatia

Sources

• Držić, Džore at lzmk.hr (in Croatian)