Risto Siliqi | |
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| Born | (1882-08-16)16 August 1882 |
| Died | 1 May 1936(1936-05-01) (aged 53) |
| Nationality | Albanian |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Known for | Activity during theAlbanian National Awakening |
| Notable work | Pasqyra e ditëve të përgjakshme |
| Children | Llazar Siliqi (son) |
| Relatives | Drago Siliqi (nephew) |
| Family | Siliqi |
Risto Siliqi (16 August 1882 – 1 May 1936) was anAlbanian poet, publicist, lawyer, and militant of the Albanian national cause.[1] His work was influenced by ideas and sentiments of theRomantic-Nationalism like other poets of thenational Awakening before him.[2]
Siliqi was born on August 16, 1882, in a simple family inShkodër, today'sAlbania, back then under theOttoman rule.[3] His father was a baker. He pursued his first education in theSerbian language school in his town, and later inRuzdiye (Turkish middle school), where he would immediately spike out for his anti-Ottoman propaganda among the students. At a certain point he got close to being arrested, and his family sent him toCetinje,Montenegro where three of his brothers had settled before. Siliqi did not stop his nationalist activity for the 10 years that he was in exile. Together with his brothers he opened a small hotel named "Albania" which served as meeting station for patriotic activities.[4] He also traveled toRomania andBulgaria to meet with the Albanian communities there.[5]
Siliqi was an active arms-in-hand participant of theAlbanian Revolt of 1911, and together with his collaboratorsHil Mosi andLuigj Gurakuqi member of its leadership structure "the Albanian Committee" (Alb:Komiteti Shqiptar). He participated in the meeting of Gërçe (Gerče, today's Montenegro) and was a signatory of theGërçe Memorandum. Meanwhile, all these events inspired him to write; many of his patriotic poems would appear in newspapers of the Albanian communities. TheFirst Balkan War would find him in Cetinje. After being informed by Austrian intelligence that he was on the list to be arrested together with other Albanianemigre there, he left Cetinje and hid inKotor. He and others came to Shkodër in 1913 via anAustrian ship. The Montenegrin court meanwhile condemned him to deathin absentia as "enemy of the Montenegrin state".[5]
The political situation in Shkodër was turbulent as well. As home of many communities supported by different European powers' interests, there were sharp contradictions and not enough support for thenewly created Albanian state. Risto started working immediately on the unification of stance between Christian and Muslim communities. At that time, there were two mainpropagandist press-organs in Shkodër:Taraboshi of theArbereshTerenzio Tocci, openly pro-Italian, andSeda-i Millet (Nation's Voice) ofMusa Juka, pro-Turkish. At the same time,Essad Pasha Toptani had already established his area of control in central Albania, supported by the participants of theLondon Conference of 1912–13, and his propaganda units were also established in Shkodër. Siliqi managed to take an open stance against all of these.[6] He was a founding member of the patriotic club "Lidhja Shqiptare" (Albanian League), and editor-in-chief of the newspaperShqypnija e Re (New Albania), with Hil Mosi as director and Karlo Suma as treasurer.[7][8] Beside the patriotic activity, the twice-a-week newspaper gave him the possibility to publish many of his creations which he could not publish as a book due to financial issues. Siliqi resigned from the "Lidhja Shqiptare" due to his disagreement on calling the Montenegrin side for military help in order to suppress the Essadist and pro-Turkish units in Shkodër. He joined the volunteer units that went to aidPrince Wied against theMuslim rebels ofHaxhi Qamili. The Montenegrin invasion of Shkodër of 1914 duringWorld War I found Siliqi there; he was immediately arrested together with Luigj Gurakuqi. speed trialed, and received a death sentence. The Austri-Hungarian offensive against Montenegro and the capitulation of the later saved his life.[9]
On a professional point of view, Siliqi had already started practitioner as a layer. With the end of World War I, he focused his energies on the law field. The endeavors of the new Albanian state left him with a bitter disappointment. He worked as a judge inVlorë in 1921, and in 1923 he became First Secretary of the Ministry of Justice. Nevertheless, in 1924 he resigned and returned to his home town without engaging anymore in politics from 1925. He worked as a lawyer for the rest of his life, precisely until 1 May 1936.[10]
Siliqi completely possessed Albanian language as alanguage of letters after he got in touch with the work of other National Awakening poets. At the same time he started writing poetry; this was around 1900. Though his language was heavy in dialect as well as Slavic or Turkish borrowings, his poetry shows a talent in progress.[10] Even after 1915, when hislexicology andphraseology obtained a clear Albanian language shape, hisorthography remained the same.[11]
As a metric, his first works are clearly based on the Albanian folkloricoctosyllable verse style. He mostly usedtrochaic verses with a very fewiambic. He also used 6,7,10,12,16syllable verses, where 6 and 7 mostly in the iambs, and 6,8,10 dominate the trochees, sometimes even mixed metrics.[12]
Siliqi finished his high school studies while in Cetinje. There he got in touch with classics asHomer,Tolstoy, andLermontov.[13] His first poetry was of personal nature, sometimes with notes of humor or social grief. Such wereDlirsija (Purity),Grave pa evlad (To women without children),Kënga e pijes (Booze song),Në vetmi (In solitude), etc, which show him as a disturbed romantic soul trying to live in peace only with its inner world.[10] But the main themes for Siliqi were the patriotic ones. Filled with optimism and rage against any kind of oppression, Siliqi is clearly the poet who call for action and criticisms stagnancy and passivity. His message was clear "S'kemi c'presim nga Evropa" (we can't expect anything from Europe).[14]The only collection of poetry Siliqi managed to publish while alive wasPasqyra e ditëve të përgjakshme (Reflection of the bloody days) published inTrieste in 1913, in 176 pages, highly influenced by his experiences of the 1910-1911 revolts. Other poetry's of his were collected from journals of the time. Similar toAsdreni, Siliqi gives social nuances to his poetry in addition to patriotic ones. His "hero" is the idealist peasant, who leaves all behind and goes to fight for his own country.[15] During 1912-1915 he wrote many poems, in around 4,000 verses.[14]
AfterWorld War II, there was a direct interest in collecting and publishing his work since 1945. The first collection of his selected poetry, both previously published or unpublished, came in 1956, one year after direct guidelines from the Central Committee of theParty of Labour of Albania demanding the figure of Siliqi to be studies and brought to light. It was namedRisto Siliqi - Vepra te zgjedhura (Risto Siliqi - Selected works) with Dhimitër Fullani as editor, published by theInstitute of History ( as part of the back then Institute of Sciences).[16] Unlike otherRilindas he was not annihilated by theCommunist regime.
Siliqi's love for poetry were passed to his sonLlazar Siliqi,[17] and nephewDrago Siliqi, both affirmed names inAlbanian literature.[18]
A street in Shkodër is named after him.
...writer and nationalist figure Risto Siliqi (1882-1936)...
The ideas and sentiments which Asdreni gave tongue, characterized the productions of another poet of this period, of Risto Siliqi.
..Llazar Siliqi, figlio del poeta e patriota Risto Siliqi. Nato nel 1924 a Scutari,...
Djalë i vjershëtorit B. Siliqi dhe nip i poetit të Rilindjes, R. Siliqi
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