Naim Frashëri (May 25, 1846 Frashër , south Albania – October 20, 1900 Kızıl Toprak , Turkey) was an Albanian romantic poet and a prominent figure of the Rilindja Kombëtare, the national renaissance of Albania, together with his two brothers Sami and Abdyl .

His father was an impoverished Bej from Frashër, District of Përmet. Naim studied at the Greek high school "Zosimea" in Ioannina.

He was a Bektashi and a Turkish official in Sarandë, Berat, and Ioannina. In 1882, he was the director of the department of censorship in Constantinople. He participated in the fight for freedom of the Albanian people, and often had to sign his work by his initials because his works were prohibited by Turkish officials. These works had to be smuggled into Albania.

Early on, he started writing poetry. At first he wrote in Persian. He authored twenty-two works: four in Turkish, one in Persian, two in Greek and fifteen in Albanian.

Naim Frashëri wrote patriotic poems and popular lyric poetry, which at first was strongly influenced by Persian poetry, later also by French poetry. He also translated several fables of Jean de la Fontaine.

His poem Herds and tillage describes the activities of the shepherd and the tiller. It also contains exaltations of the nature of Albania and exclamations of longing after the poet’s homeland.

His poem Skanderbeg’s story relates the life of the Albanian national hero Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg, adding phantastic episodes.

He translated Homer’s Iliad. He also wrote didactic and (Islamic) religious articles.

Frashëri exerted a strong influenced on the later Albanian literature.

There is an order, one of the recipients being Mother Teresa, and a publishing house named after Naim Frashëri.

Works

• Bagëti e bujqësia (Herds and tillage; Bucharest 1886): a patriotic lyrical poem
• O alithis pothos ton skipetaron (The true desire of the Albanians; 1886): a patriotic poem in Greek
• Vjersha (Verses; 1886): a collection of poetry
• Lulet e verës (Summer flowers; 1890): a collection of poetry
• Mësimet (Teachings; 1894): didactic articles
• Parajsa dhe fjala fluturake (The paradise and flying words)
• Histori' e Skënderbeut (Skanderbeg’s story, 1898): his main work, an epic poem
• Qerbeleja (1898): a poem about the creation of the world according to Islam, and the battle of Kerbela
• Fjalët e qiririt (The words of the candle)
• Gjuha jonë (Our language)
• O Eros (O Love) another Greek poem
• Shqipëri, o jetëgjatë (Albania, to a long life)
• Tehajylat (The Dream; 1885) a poem in Persian
• Ti, Shqipëri, më jep nder! (You, Albania, give me honor)
• Tradhëtorëtë (Traitors)
• Ujku dhe qëngji (The wolf and the sheep)

External links

• A portrait and a poem in English