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by Jovan Dučić

Kod Dučića u Plavim legendama, kao uostalom i kod Turgenjeva, Bodlera i Bunjina, tretirane su apstrahtne, opšte filozofske teme. Ali, nisu te teme obrađene same po sebi. One su na poseban način uspostavljen odnos, njihova suština je u izrazito individualnom uspostavljenom odnosu. Presudne su, i naglašene, najbitnije odlike u četiri odnosa: pesnikov odnos prema prirodi, prema Bogu, u odnosu prema drugim ljudima, u odnosu prema Demonu.

Pojam žene i fenomen večne ženstvenosti takođe uzima vidnog mesta u "Plavim legendama". I u ostalom Dučićevoj poeziji žena je zauzela važno, prestolno mesto. Ovde je mnogostruko varirana ta tema i ne nalazimo je u poeziji ostalih srpskih simbolista, samo kod Dučića. U pesmi "Ogledala" žena je oličenje surovosti, divlje strasti (ogleda se u očima muškaraca, da bi ta ogledala porazbijala u nastupu strasti). Kao kod Bunjina, i kod Dučića žena ima "instinkt spola, a ne instiknt prijateljstva", varljiva je, neverna, okrutna.

Isus Hristos je takođe tema koja Dučiću nije dala mira. Ali, Dučić to ipak doživljava drugačije i od Bunjina i od Turgenjeva; njegov Hristos je čovekobog, a ne bogočovek. U "Pesmi o Hristu" Dučić s njim razgovara kao sa sebi ravnim i svoje obraćanje Njemu završava ovako: "Ti svojom istinom samo ograničio nešto što je neograničeno; i govorio što je neizrecivo. Ali si svojim ranama pokazao ono što je božansko u čoveku. I tako, i ako nisi otkrio Boga, Ti si Ga posvedočio".

No, tu su i opšta mesta svojstvena velikim majstorima: ista simbolična značenja su kod Turgenjeva, Bunjina i Dučića. Biljni svet oličen je u ruži, jasminu, čempresu, mirti. Od životinjskog sveta, pas je oličenje odanosti, vernosti koja prevazilazi ljudsku sposobnost da se postigne takva vrlina. Od ptica, tu su ždralovi, golubi, gavrani — oličenje prolaznosti, nevinosti, kobi. Biblijsku konotaciju sublimiranog zla i mudrosti oličava zmija. To govori o još nečemu — Dučić se oslanjao na motive starozavetnih legendi o Adamu i Evi i na Prvu knjigu Mojsijevog "Postanja". Rečito o tome svedoči "Večernja pesma", ali i pesma "Otrov" koja se oslanja na jevanđelske legende o smrti Jovanka Krstitelja. Tako je i sa pesmom "Seme", gde je reč o motivu i paraboli o sejaču i semenu. Tu je, naravno, i oslanjanje na opise lepe Jelene u Ilijadi (kosa boje mesečeve svetlosti, zlatna zvezdana prašina). A pesma "Ravnodušnost" naslanja se na Geteovog "Fausta". Onda se Dučić, ko bi drugi, doseti da — misleći na Tebu, Jerusalim, Vavilon — uznemiri dublji sloj međuteksta sa porukom da je ravnodušnost "osećanje koje nikada nije imao ni Bog ni Satana", i da ravnodušnost pripada samo čoveku pa zato u Mefistovom srcu nema ni mržnje ni ljubavi — samo studena ravnodušnost. Ali, to je već svojevrsna Dučićeva lična recepcija "Fausta".

Na kraju, važno je reći da se u formalnoj strukturi Dučićevih "Plavih legendi" lako prepoznaju ritmovi i stil "Pjesme nad pjesmama" cara Solomona. To najbolje potvrđuje pesma "Zizema". U opisu Zizeme Dučić je koristio slike iz Solomona. Kod Dučića, njene bradavice su "kao dve krupne kapi krvi ranjene lavice", nasuprot "dvije dojke tvoje kao dva blizanca srnčeta... "Odvrati oči svoje od mene jer me raspaljuje", u "Pjesmi nad pjesmama".

Šta zaključiti? Jednostavno: Dučić je u "Plave legende" sažeo sva iskustva svoga vremena u tome žanru. I postigao zavidan nivo. U našoj književnosti do tada nepoznat. Čega god se tako svojom lirom, on je to jednostavno pozlatio. I zašto onda ne ponoviti: Jovan Dučić je u srpskom simbolizmu pesnik uskličnik, baš onako stoji uspravan kao čempresi u njegovom rodnom Trebinju.

48 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

The exact date of Dučić's date of birth is still undetermined; it is variously said to have been on 17 February (or 5 February according to the Julian calendar) of 1871, 1872, or 1874, with the latter date most often given. He died on 7 April 1943 at age 72.

He was born in Trebinje in today's Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he attended primary school. He moved on to a high school in Mostar and trained to become a teacher in Sombor. He worked as a teacher in several towns before returning to Mostar, where he founded (with Aleksa Šantić) a literary magazine Zora ("Dawn").

Dučić's openly expressed Serbian patriotism caused difficulties with the authorities—at that time Bosnia-Herzegovina was de facto incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian Empire—and he moved abroad to pursue higher studies, mostly in Geneva and Paris. He was awarded a law degree by the University of Geneva

and, following his return from abroad, entered Serbian diplomatic service in 1907. Although he had previously expressed opposition to the idea of creating Yugoslavia, he became the new country's first ambassador to Romania (in 1937). He had a distinguished diplomatic career in this capacity, serving in Istanbul, Sofia, Rome, Athens, Cairo, Madrid and Lisbon. Dučić spoke several foreign languages and he is remembered as a distinguished diplomat. His Acta Diplomatica (Diplomatic Letters) was published posthumously in the United States (in 1952) and in former Yugoslavia (in 1991).

It was, however, as a poet that Dučić gained his greatest distinctions. He published his first book of poetry in Mostar in 1901 and his second in Belgrade, 1912. He wrote prose as well: several essays and studies about writers, Blago cara Radovana (Tsar Radovan's treasure) and poetry letters from Switzerland, Greece, Spain and other countries.

Like Šantić, Dučić's work was initially heavily influenced by that of Vojislav Ilić, the leading Serbian poet of the late 19th century. His travels abroad helped him to develop his own individual style, in which the Symbolist movement was perhaps the greatest single influence. In his poetry he explored quite new territory that was previously unknown in Serbian poetry. He restricted himself to only two verse styles, the symmetrical dodecasyllable (the Alexandrine) and hendecasyllable—both French in origin—in order to focus on the symbolic meaning of his work. He expressed a double fear, of vulgarity of thought, and vulgarity of expression. He saw the poet as an "office worker and educated craftsman in the hard work of rhyme and rhythm".

Dučić went into exile in the United States in 1941 following the German invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia, where he joined his relative Mihajlo (Michael) in Gary, Indiana. From then until his death two years later, he led an Illinois-based organization (founded by Mihailo Pupin in 1914) which represented the Serbian diaspora in the US. During these two years, he wrote many poems, historical books and newspaper articles espousing Serbian nationalist causes and protesting the mass murder of Serbs by the pro-Nazi Ustaše regime of Croatia. During this time he attracted some criticism from other Yugoslav exiles for his espousal of Greater Serbian ideas, a position which also attracted the attention of the US Government's Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner of the CIA).

He died on 7 April 1943 and was buried in the Serbian Orthodox monastery of Saint Sava in Libertyville, Illinois. He expressed a wish in his will to be buried in his home town of Trebinje, a goal which was finally realized when he was reburied there on 22 October 2000 in the newly built Gračanica church.