France Preseren

France Preseren (http://www.tourism-kranj.si/sites/ZTK/doc/o_kranju/znani_kranjcani/france_preseren__medium_.jpg)

France Preseren is the greatest Slovenian poet. Not only are his poems of the highest artistic merit, but he also contributed to the national awakening of the Slovenians.

Preseren was born into a peasant family in Vrba in Gorenjska, a village in the northern part of Slovenia on 3 December 1800 as the third child and first son to mother Mini and father Simen. The family was quite well-off, so they could afford to send France, who already as a child showed an exceptional talent, to school. In 1808 he went to live with his uncle, a priest in Grosuplje. He attended primary school in Ribnica, where he was an excellent pupil. In 1812 he continued his schooling in Ljubljana, where he began to attend high school. After high school, he completed a two-year course in philosophy which was a kind of preparation for university. Then he went to Vienna to study law. After graduation from Vienna Law Faculty, he returned to Ljubljana.

In 1834, he became a trainee lawyer at his friend Blaz Crobath's law office. He repeatedly applied for his own legal practice in Ljubljana, but Austrian authorities repeatedly turned down his applications because of his free thinking which was labelled as politically dangerous.

In April 1833 Preseren saw a girl, Julija Primic, a daughter from a rich family, in the church in Trnovo, and he fell desperately in love with her. This love was a strong influence on the poet's later life and his creation. Julija did not accept his love, and she got engaged to a rich man who she later got married to. Preseren dedicated many poems to Julija, among which is A Wreath of Sonnets (Sonetni venec), one of his greatest achievements. A Wreath of Sonnets includes Magistrale, in which the first letter of each line spells Primicovi Juliji (To Primc's Julija).

In 1835 Prešeren's uncle Joze, who had always supported him, died. Furthermore, his friend Matija Cop got drowned in the Sava. Preseren blamed himself for his death – he should have gone swimming too on that day, and thus might have prevented the tragedy. He dedicated several poems, including the epic The Baptism at the Savica (Krst pri Savici), to Matija Cop.

Around 1837, he got involved with Ana Jelovsek, a servant. She gave birth to his three children: Teresa (15 October 1839 – 14 May 1840), Ernestina (18 December 1842 – 3 December 1917) and Franc (18 September 1845 – 17 August 1855). Their relationship was not a happy one, as uneducated Ana was not able to understand Preseren's poetic views of the world and life. This is also evident in the fact that Preseren dedicated only one poem, The Unmarried Mother (Nezakonska mati), to Ana. Their characters were completely different. Preseren was shy and reserved, whereas Ana was lively and of interest to many men. Although they did not live together, Preseren supported her and the children. His daughter Ernestina later wrote a memoir in which she described the relationship between her father and mother.

In 1846 the application for his own legal practice was finally granted. This time, he did not apply for an office in Ljubljana, but for a place in a small town. He finally got his own law office in Kranj, where he moved in the autumn. He was already ill and disillusioned. He died on 8 February 1849.

He wrote sonnets, ballads, romances and ghazals.

He is very important to me because of what he did for the Slovenian future and for Slovenian independence. The seventh stanza of his poem A Toast (Zdravljica) is also the Slovenian anthem today. He was a great man and we are all very proud of him. His life was not easy. He was unhappy in love and he had to struggle hard to have his poems published. Towards the end of his life he was getting lonelier and lonelier because all his friends died. He died relatively young himself, but nevertheless he did enough for Slovenia to be called a hero.