Lirika

Lyrika is a rare joint collection of poetry published as a special edition of the magazine Hrvatska revija (print run of 1000 copies). The booklet contains cycles by four young Croatian authors: Ivan Dončević – Klonuće: symphony of dying, Ivo Kozarčanin – Tuga ljeta, Anton (Antun) Nizeteo – Zelena harfa and Radovan Žilić – Grad na vjetru.

The collection represents a cross-section of intimistic and melancholic lyrics of the interwar period. Dončević's poems exude gloomy, symbolic tones – motifs of death, sacrifice, anxiety, wine and cemeteries (e.g. Overture, Tjeskoba, Crna zastava), with an emphasis on decadent and existential themes. Kozarčanin in Tuga ljeta depicts the lush, sensual nature of summer that turns into sadness and memory, with strong landscape and autobiographical elements (peasant life, father's shoes, harvest, vineyards). Nizete's and Žilić's poems continue in a similar vein – introspective, with motifs of nature, wind, city and transience.

The style is largely traditional, with a modern lyrical feel – rich imagery, metaphors, melancholy and sensuality. The book reflected the spirit of the younger generation of Croatian poets of the 1930s, between tradition and modernism, with an emphasis on personal experiences of nature, love, death and transience. Today it is considered a bibliographic rarity and an important document of Croatian interwar lyric poetry.