Ivan Gundulic

Born Jan. 8, 1589 (?), in Dubrovnik; died there Dec. 8, 1638. Croatian poet. One of the most prominent representatives of Dubrovnik literature. From an aristocratic family.

Gundulic began to write in his youth. His pastoral drama, Dubravka (staged, 1628), enjoyed great popularity. He wrote such didactic, religious works as On the Greatness of God (1621), Penitential Psalms of King Da vid (1621), and Tears of the Prodigal Son (1622). The Diffident Lover is a narrative poem with a secular content. The culmination of Gudulic’s poetic activity was the epic Osman (pub. 1826). The poem, devoted to the victory of the Polish troops over the Turks in the battle of Khotin (1621), is imbued with the ideas of freedom, peace, and Slavic unity. Along with colorful descriptions of historical events, it contains elements of fantasy, popular legends, vignettes from the life of the South Slavic peoples, and images from ancient mythology.