Petar Preradović

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Petar Preradović (March 19, 1818 - August 18, 1872) was a Croatian poet born to Serbian parents.

Preradović was born in the village of Grabrovnica, which was part of the Austrian Military Frontier. His parents were Serbian Orthodox and, like many from the area, he chose to become a professional soldier. He was educated at the military academy at Wiener Neustadt where he converted to Catholicism and later excelled as one of the best students. There he began to write his first poems in German.

After graduation he was stationed in Milan, where he met Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski, who inspired him to start writing in Croatian. Preradović was later stationed in Zadar where he began to write for the local Croatian newspaper Zora dalmatinska in 1846. He then went to Zagreb where he met the leading figures of the Illyrian movement.

In 1847 he was again stationed in Italy where he took part in the Wars of Italian Unification. When he returned to Croatia, he became a close associate of Josip Jelačić. He was stationed to various Austrian military outposts and gradually rose to the rank of general.

Preradović wrote poetry under the strong influence of national romanticism, while his poems often show Panslavist ideas. Due to family tragedy, he took interest in spiritism and wrote some articles about the subject.

His life, torn between his military career, politics and literature, was also marked by gambling problems and bad health. He died in Fahrafeld, Austria at the age of 54.

He had seven children. One of his grandchildren was Paula von Preradović, Austrian poet and the author of Austrian national anthem.