Desanka Maksimović Captured the Contradictions of Solitude

Desanka Maksimović did not romanticize solitude. In one of her last major interviews, published by NIN in 1992, she was asked how she coped with being a poet described as a "great loner." Her answer was direct: "It is not easy." But she immediately added that solitude was necessary for her work.

Whenever she began writing, Maksimović said, her first requirement was to be alone. That was when something new awakened inside her, something that would later become a poem. Solitude was not, in her view, an escape from people. It was a space where a person could finally hear their own thoughts clearly.

Her daily routine reflected that understanding. According to memories shared by her nephew, she would go to Ada Ciganlija in the morning, where she walked and wrote before returning to ordinary life and other people. Yet solitude went beyond a working habit. It became one of the subjects of her poetry.

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It is not easy.

Her poem "Solitude" begins almost peacefully, with nature, silence and distance from others allowing the speaker to remain alone with herself. As the poem develops, that image grows more complicated. Solitude is no longer only a refuge. It follows people even when they love and are surrounded by others. Maksimović writes: "my solitude is full of me."

That is the paradox at the center of her view. A person can be alone without feeling lonely, while someone surrounded by people can experience complete solitude. Maksimović recognized both sides. Human beings need one another, but part of inner life remains inaccessible to everyone else. Love and friendship may soften that distance without eliminating it. Her poetry is full of people, tenderness, nature and the wish to speak to someone. Yet to have something meaningful to say to others, it seems, a person sometimes must first remain alone with themselves.

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my solitude is full of me.