Blaže Koneski

Blaže Koneski Poems

Blaže Koneski Biography

Blaže Koneski (Macedonian: Блаже Конески) (December 19, 1921 – December 7, 1993) (born in Nebregovo, near Prilep, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, now Republic of Macedonia) was one of the most distinguished Macedonian poets, writers, literary translators, and linguistic scholars. His major contribution was to the codification of standard Macedonian. Koneski was born into a distinguished family with pro-Serbian sentiments; and his maternal uncle was a famous Serbian Chetnik voivode Gligor Sokolović. He received a Royal Serbian scholarship to study in the Kragujevac gymnasium or high school. Later, he studied medicine at the University of Belgrade, and then changed to Serbian language and literature. In 1941, after the defeat of Yugoslavia in Aufmarsch 25, he enrolled in the Law Faculty of Sofia University, but did not graduate. However in 1945 at the age of 23 he became one of the most important contributor in standardization of the Macedonian language. He worked as a lector in the Macedonian National Theater, and in 1946, he joined the faculty at the Philosophy Department of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, where he worked until his retirement. He became a member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1967, and was elected its president in 1967 through 1975. Koneski was also a member of the Zagreb (Croatia), Belgrade (Serbia), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Łódź (Poland) Academies of Sciences and Arts, and an honorary doctor of the Universities of Chicago, United States, and Kraków in Poland. The American Slavist Victor Friedman would mention Koneski as one of his mentors. Blaže Koneski died in Skopje on December 7, 1993. He received a state funeral for his distinguished literary career, and for his contributions to the codification of standard Macedonian. Koneski wrote poetry and prose. His most famous collections of poetry are: Mostot, Pesni, Zemjata i ljubovta, Vezilka, Zapisi, Cesmite, Stari i novi pesni, Seizmograf, among others. His collection of short stories Vineyard Macedonian: Lozje is also famous. Koneski was a distinguished translator of poetry from German, Russian, Slovenian, Serbian and Polish; he translated the works of Njegos, Preshern, Heine, Blok, Neruda, and others.)

The Best Poem Of Blaže Koneski

Epistle

Without you, Tyre and Sidon,
life has existed here for thousands of years and will continue.
We humans are like grass:
crushed, dried, withering, dying.
The land alone remains.
We humans are like ants:
squashed, destroyed, and again gathering in a pile.
From here, sometime, began the march to the Indus, who could have foreseen that?
Along the Via Egnatia Cicero went into exile
in Salonika.
Near Drama
Caesar's ghost appeared to Brutus
in the tent
on the eve of the decisive battle.
And fifteen martyrs were consecrated at Tiveriopol. Naum built a monastery
at the source of the White Like.
This land also gave strength to King Marko. And yet,
has it not suffered humiliation?
Everything is ordained -
we depart
but the land remains.

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