About Desanka
Desanka Maksimovic was born on May 16, 1898 in Rabrovica, near Valjevo, the oldest child of father Mihailo, a teacher, and mother Draginja. Right after her birth, her father was transferred, and they moved to Brankovina, where Desanka spent her childhood. She graduated from the gymnasium in Valjevo and the Faculty of Philosophy at the Belgrade University.
In August 1933 she married Sergij Slastikov, but they had no children of their own.
Desanka was a professor of Serbian language from 1923 until 1953 in several schools. First, she was a teacher at the Obrenovac gymnasium, then she moved to the Third Female Gymnasium in Belgrade. Eventually, she was transferred to the teachers' school in Dubrovnik, where she spent one year. After that, she worked in First female gymnasium in Belgrade. One of her best students was Mira Aleckovic, who also became a poet and a close friend of Desanka Maksimovic.
When she heard that the German soldiers were shooting primary school children in Kragujevac, she wrote "Krvava Bajka" (trans. "The Legend of Blood" or, more literally "A Bloody Fairy Tale"), a poem that speaks of the terror practiced by German army in World War II. The poem was not published until after the war had ended.
She traveled across Yugoslavia, and befriended writers and poets such as Miloš Crnjanski, Ivo Andric, Gustav Krklec, Isidora Sekulic, and Branko Copic.
Her poetry spoke about love and patriotism; it was enthusiastic and youthful, yet serious and sensitive. It is said that the Serbian language is best sung in the poems of Desanka Maksimovic. Some of her best poems include: "Anticipation", "Tremble", "Spring poem" , "Warning", "In storm", "I seek amnesty" , "Sheared meadow" etc.