When, in 1990, the influential Nova Revija (New Review) asked fourteen Slovenian poets to create an anthology of their favorite Slovenian poems, Josip Murn and Gregor Strnisa led the list, with eleven selections each. The revered Edvard Kocbek and the legendary Srecko Kosovel were second. However, few of those who made the selections followed Strnisa beyond his early work. Andrej Brvar admitted that, just as he prefers the Kocbek of Zemlja (Earth, 1934), so he only finds Strnisa convincing until Zvezde (The Stars, 1965).

Not only is Strnisa's poetry influential, but so was his stance. Because he deeply and literally believed in the importance of poetry for humanity's evolution, Strnisa was always the poet. When he read, he read like a seer. But such a personality does not necessarily bring honor, and Strnisa was difficult. Janez Menart, for instance, in Med tradicijo in modernizmom (Between Tradition and Modernism, 1978), though conceding that...