Aleksandër Stavre Drenova

Aleksandër Stavre Drenova

Aleksandër Stavre Drenova , called Asdreni , (born April 11, 1872 in Drenova , Ottoman Empire , † December 11, 1947 ibid ( Albania )) was an Albanian poet. He wrote the Albanian national anthem .

Life

Asdreni came from an Orthodox family and attended the Greek school in his hometown near Korça . His father died in 1885 when he was thirteen years old. Then his brothers took him to Bucharest . During this time Asdreni came into contact with intellectuals and writers from the Albanian community in exile in Romania. Among other things, he worked as an editor of the weekly newspaper Shqipetari (The Albanian) and wrote one of the first Albanian school reading books. After a short stay in Albania in 1914, he returned to Romania and became involved in the Albanian national movement. In 1937 he visited Albania again, but soon returned to Romania, where he died in 1947.

writer

Asdrenis is of great importance not only for Albanian literature , but also for the freedom movement of his people. Throughout his life he pursued the goal of liberating Albania from the rule of the Turks. He criticized the Albanian bourgeoisie and saw himself as a spokesman for the poorer people.

His early work can be classified as romantic . Asdreni later developed into a socially critical realist .

His work is extensive and varied, with poetry predominating. In 1904 Asdreni published his first collection of 99 poems ( Rreze dielli ), which he dedicated to the Albanian national hero Skanderbeg . His second volume of poetry ( Ëndrra e lotë ) was published in 1912 and was dedicated to the British anthropologist Edith Durham . Asdreni's third collection of poems ( Psallme murgu ) was published in 1930.

Works

• Rreze dielli (" Sunbeams ", 1904)
• Ëndrra (dh) e lotë ("Dreams and Tears", 1912)
• Psallme murgu ("Psalms of a monk", 1930)
• Kambana e Krujës ("The Bell of Kruja", 1937)

Web links

• Robert Elsie : Asdreni . Short biography on albanianliterature.net (English)