Jovan Jovanović Zmaj

Who was Jovan Jovanović Zmaj?

Jovan Jovanović Zmaj was one of the best-known Serbian poets. He was a physician by profession, like his literary predecessor writer Jovan Stejić.

He wrote in many of the genres of poetry, including love, lyric, patriotic, political, youth's, etc. But he is best known for his children's poetry. His nursery rhymes have entered the Serbian national consciousness and people sing them to their children even without knowing who wrote them. He also translated the works of some of the great poets, Russia's Lermontov and Pushkin; Germany's Goethe and Heine; and America's Longfellow.

His nickname Zmaj derives from May Assembly date, 3 May 1848, in Serbian Cyrillic: 3.мај / Змај.