Vesna Parun

Born Apr. 10, 1922, in Zlarin, near Ŝibenik. Croatian poet.

Parun studied in the faculty of philosophy at the University of Zagreb in 1940 and 1941 and in 1945 and 1946. She began publishing in 1945. Her first verse collections, Dawns and Whirlwinds (1947) and Verses (1948), are imbued with the joy of building a new life. Her lyric poetry is dominated by civic and personal motifs, as seen in the collections Black Olive (1955), Loyal to Otters (1957), and Coral Returned to the Sea (1959). Parun later abandoned deliberate formal complexity and returned to precise rhythm, language rich in metaphor and yet clear, and sincerely felt lyricism. These qualities are illustrated in such collections as The Wind of Thrace (1964), Gong (1966), and Enchanted Rain (1969). Parun has also written many poems for children.