Antun Branko Šimić

Works

Šimić did not write an extensive literary opus during his lifetime. However, some of his poems could be called anthological, like "Pjesnici" (Poets), "Veče i ja" (The Evening and I), "Opomena" (Warning), "Ručak siromaha" (The Poor Man's Dinner), "Žene pred uredima" (Women in Front of Offices), "Smrt i ja" (Death and I), "Pjesma jednom brijegu" (Poem to a Mountain), "Smrt" (Death), and some others. After writing under the influence of Matoš, Kranjčević, Vidrić and Domjanić, he bore down on the traditionalists and started favouring an unrestrained expression and expressionist spirit. In his collection Preobraženja (Metamorphoses), using free verse, he wrote tersely, rhythmically, gnomically and logically.

He would also sometimes resort to the decasyllabic line and the folk lament. His topics are the man, pain, poverty, stars, Herzegovina, the poor, life and death ("death is something quite human"). When he turns to the man, he warns him: Be careful not to go, small as thou art, under the stars, man (from the poem Warning). When he writes about the mystery and perseverance, he says: We watch each other silently. Mountain and man. I'll never know where our different meanings meet- (Poem to a mountain).

Šimić published his essays in his journals that defended the principles of expressionism, which influenced his later poetry. In particular, his views were based on the tenets of German Expressionism.

The image of A.B. Šimić can be seen on Federation of BiH issue of the 20 km banknote.