CRNOGORSKE PJESME U TOMAZEOVIM PJESMAMA ILIRSKIM MONTENEGRIN POEMS IN TOMMASEO’S ILLYRIAN POEMS

Abstract

This article discusses the circumstances in which Niccolò Tommaseo, an Italian writer of Dalmatian origin, included three poems from the Montenegrin literary periodical Grlica (1835-1839) in his collection of Italian translations of “Illyrian” folk poetry (Canti illirici, 1842), published in Venice. In this regard, the research pointed to the mediating role of the German romantic poet Heinrich Stieglitz, author of a travel book about Montenegro (Ein Besuch auf Montenegro, 1841). In the autumn of 1839, Stieglitz visited the Montenegrin Metropolitan and poet Peter II Petrović Njegoš in Cetinje, wherefrom he presumably brought copies of this first Montenegrin periodical to Venice. Also discussed is the possible influence that Tommasseo’s activities on collecting South Slavic folk poetry in Dalmatia had on the creation of the anthology of epic poems Serbian Mirror, which Njegoš composed after his first meeting with Tommaseo in January 1844.