The Ancient Sources of Njegoš’s Poetics

Abstract

Petar II Petrović Njegoš was a poet, ruler, and bishop of Montenegro in the first half of the nineteenth century. During his reign, Montenegro was a small theocratic principality, involved in constant struggle with the neighboring Ottoman Empire. Raised in the libertarian spirit of Serbian folk song, Njegoš at the same time showed a lifelong interest in classical antiquity. Most of his poetic work contains diverse elements of classical heritage, both in terms of ideas and motif patterns, as well as poetic images, literary topoi, metaphors, and symbols largely related to the tradition of Neoplatonic philosophy in its Christian guise. However, the highlight of Njegoš's creativity is marked by the more predominant influence of classical tragedy, shaped into a kind of an overall “Aeschylean” view of the world order.