Background
The poet was born in 1876 in Belgrade.
The poet was born in 1876 in Belgrade.
He finished elementary school (grade school) and high school (gymnasium) in Belgrade. In Paris, France he finished law school.
He was quite a perfectionist and therefore only published two collections of poems (1903, 1912). He wrote largely about death and non-existence, keeping the tone sceptical and ironic. Two of his most well-known poems are An Honest Song (Iskrena pesma), A Desperate Song (Očajna pesma), Jefimija, Simonida and At Gazi-Mestan (Na Gazi-Mestanu).
lieutenant was in Paris that he, like Dučić, came under the influence of French Symbolist poets.
They both had learned to admire French culture and had dreamed of a better world after the war. After returning to Belgrade from Paris he became a diplomat (like Jovan Dučić) for the Serbian (and later Yugoslav) government and remained in that job until nearly his death, representing the country abroad.
He died prematurely in 1938 in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) right after surgery. His father, Dimitrije Mita Rakić, educated abroad, was Serbia"s Minister of Finance (1888).
His mother Ana was the daughter of Serbian writer Milan Đ.
His poetry is mainly centred on love and philosophical themes. Although he wrote very few poems (altogether 64), his poems are considered some of the highest-quality Serbian poetic works. After Aleksa Šantić and Jovan Dučić, Milan Rakić is generally considered the third greatest Serbian poet of the twentieth century.
He is particularly well known as the poet who perfected the hendecasyllable verse using rich vocabulary and calm imagery.
The language of his poems is crystal clear, without obfuscation or unnecessary drama. With Aleksa Šantić, Rakić had brought life back to Serbian patriotic poetry.
He is well respected for writing thoughtful patriotic and religious poetry at a time during which romanticism was the style of lyric choice.
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts]
He was a member of the Serbian Royal Academy (1934).