Filip Višnjić

Filip Višnjić (Serbian Cyrillic: Филип Вишњић, pronounced [fîliːp ʋîʃɲitɕ]; 1767–1834) was a Serbian epic poet and guslar. His repertoire included 13 original epic poems chronicling the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire and four reinterpreted epics from different periods of history of Serbia.

Born in a village near Ugljevik, Višnjić went blind at the age of eight or nine after contracting smallpox. He lost his family early in life, and began playing the gusle and reciting epic poetry around the age of 20. He spent years wandering the Balkans as a vagabond, and performed and begged for a living. His storytelling abilities attracted the attention of a number of influential figures, and around 1797, he married into an affluent family. In 1809, he relocated to Serbia with his wife and children, and experienced first-hand the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottomans. He performed in military camps, hoping to raise the morale of the rebels, and composed epic poems recounting the history of the uprising. The revolt was crushed by the Ottomans in 1813, and Višnjić and his family were forced to resettle in Austrian-controlled Syrmia, north of the Sava River.

In 1815, Višnjić performed for the linguist and folklorist Vuk Karadžić, who preserved his work in writing. Višnjić's epic poems were soon published as part of a collection of Serbian epic poetry that Karadžić had compiled. They were well received both in the Balkans and abroad. By this point, Višnjić was solely reinterpreting his old poems and no longer composing new ones. He lived in Syrmia until his death in 1834. Grk, the village in which he and his family lived, was later renamed Višnjićevo in his honour. Višnjić is widely considered one of Serbia's greatest gusle players and is revered for his contributions to the Serbian oral tradition. Notable Serbian scholar and Hellenist Miloš N. Đurić dubbed him the Serbian Homer.