Kosta Abrašević

Kosta Abrašević

Kosta Abrašević (Serbian Cyrillic: Коста Абрашевић, May 29, 1879 – January 20, 1898) was a Serbian proletarian poet.

Life

Kosta was born in Ohrid in the Manastir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (in present-day Republic of Macedonia) on May 29, 1879, to a poor merchant family. His father, Naum Hristić, was Serb and his mother Sotira Greek.

After finishing three years in a Greek school in Ohrid, he continued his schooling in the Šabac high school, where he started using patronymic of his fathers nickname "Abraš" as a surname. Early on in his life he came in contact with Socialist ideas, and founded a political-writer group in Šabac, which published magazines Omirov venac and Grbonja. In his poetry social ideas are prevalent. This could be seen in his poem Red, where the expression "Ruby-red" is associated with blood and "Mighty veins," "lighting" and "dark eyes" all showed the inevitable triumph of the workers and the crushing defeat of tyrants (Turks). He translated German Socialist poets. His original poems are found in socialist magazines after his death, and his collection, which had seen many editions, was printed by high school and college student groups in 1903. His works are translated into Russian, Hungarian, Albanian and Romanian, also some of his works are interpreted by composers such as S. Anđelić and M. Živković. He died in Šabac on January 20, 1898. He was only 19 years old.

Legacy

After Grigor Parlichev of Ohrid, the wearer of the laureate wreath is Kosta Abrašević. Both were born in Ohrid, yet each claimed a different loyalty, one was a Bulgarian and the other a Serb respectively.

Sources

• M. Милојковић: Коста Абрашевић. Живот и рад, Београд, 1951.