THE WORK OF CONTEMPORARY MONTENEGRIN POETS FOR CHILDREN

Abstract

Poetry for children is constantly growing, being enriched and becoming more and more widespread both in Montenegro and among poets of Montenegrin origin in the region (Dušan Đurišić, Ivan Ceković, Dušan Govedarica, Dragomir Ćulafić, Dragan Radulović, Dragiša Jovović, Miroslav Jovanović Timotijev, Borislav Jovanović, Velimir Ralević, Dejan Đonović and others). This type of literature has its own living flow and has experienced a rise and affirmation in the last few decades. One of its important features is an Antean attachment to family and native region. Such epic assumptions give way to play, humour and fantasy, thus forging a more modern creative expression.

           Montenegrin poetry for children has succeeded in compensating for the poetic and aesthetic lagging behind the much more developed children’s literature in former Yugoslav republics, as well as in overcoming its own folk and regional themes. Its basic poetic feature is a strong connection with modernist currents and the motifs of play, which are increasingly in line with the development of society and the flourishing of scientific and technological civilization. This paper analyses the poetic works of two contemporary Montenegrin poets for children – Dejan Đonović and Velimir Ralević, whose work is largely based on wordplay and the principle or magic of play. The verses of these Montenegrin poets are perfectly suited to childhood, which makes them easily memorisable for the youngest population.