His first poem to appear in
Misul, then the leading literary journal in Bulgaria, had a heavy Socialist coloration: "Na edin pesimist" (To a Pessimist, 1898). Here the poet admits that the Bulgarian people are seemingly enslaved and asleep but argues that their souls are very much alive, and if they are enlightened and encouraged, they will themselves find the path to a better future.
Kracholov published individual poems periodically in Misul, without attracting any particular attention until he sent the editorial office a longer poem, "Kaliopa" (Calliope), composed during his cultural isolation in Ankhialo. This work aroused the positive enthusiasm of the journal's editors: they published it in their first issue for the new century and contrived to have him transferred to Sofia. Slaveykov even became Kracholov's poetic godfather, christening him Yavorov, from the word for sycamore. Certainly the pen name was more euphonic than the poet's real name. His first book, Stikhotvoreniya (Poems), appeared in Varna in 1901.
During this period Yavorov was a relatively straightforward writer. In "Velikden" (Easter, 1900), dedicated to one of his brothers, Yavorov recalls his "happy, cherished childhood," with his parents, brothers, and sisters--although the poem ends on a pessimistic note as he confronts the "unknown road" of life with "no companion to give me his hand." If hints of his mature development are to be found in this conclusion, it is also true that his early poetry includes many notes of social protest.
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