Čakavian anthologies

Abstract

Anthologies made according to the analectic principles and time-honoured usage open the door to the civilising process in those parts of a country which have their specific idiom, their own cultural character with connotative historical markings. Many theoreticians, critcs and linguists have tried for a long time to analyse the phenomenon of the Cakavian dialect, seeking for an answer to the question whether the idiom has its place, and what kind of place, within Croatian literature. However, our analitica! exploration is directed towards observing the role of the Cakavian analectic collections, especially those of the more general character, prepared in the desire to be exemplary and at the same time stimulating to those who are imbued with creative ambition. The critics help us with the statement that the poet can not deny himself in his work, irrespective of the expressive means that he uses, and that the spirit of general human themes can also flow in the poetry written in a dialect. In the regional themes, in their Anthean devotedness to the native land, in their loyalty to the birthplace, in thejr ethical, psychological and patriotic emotions, and with the aid of spiritual affinity - the Cakavians reveal the truth, they compose messages, they write poems full of eurhythmies, aesthetically polished, not infrequently with well articulated voices, but sometimes forged off-hand without formal-technical skill, worded as experiments, but oriented towards the future. Follpwing their own criteria, anthologists aim at presenting chronologically the most valuable Cakavian achievements, testifying that anthologies served as sign-posts to one another and to poets to whom “ča" is the sweetest monosyllable, the symbol of their entity