Branko Miljković (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранко Миљковић; 29 January 1934 – 12 February 1961) was a Serbian poet.
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".
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
External links
Translated works by Branko Miljković
Biography of Branko Miljković on web site Poetabg
Short biography written by Kosta Dimitrijević and published on Poemhunter website Short biography on Znanje Works