Reception of Preseren's Poems: Understanding, Lack of Understanding, Adoration

Challenges in the reception of Preseren's poems were already pointed out during the poet's lifetime. Extensive explanations of his poems and reminders about erroneous understanding demonstrate that even intellectuals have difficulties with Preseren's poetry. Boa Krakar Vogel's study confirmed the very poor cognitive response even by the students of Slovene, despite the fact that these students highly value Preseren's poetry, which can be explained by the mythical dimensions of the national poet. The comparison between Krst pri Savici [The Baptism on the Savica] and Jenko's Ognjeplamtic shows why Preseren's romantic poem is more challenging for reception, which was confirmed by the empirical study conducted in the first year of a secondary school, the outcome of which showed an exceptionally poor understanding of the Baptism.