Ndre Mjeda, poet, patriotic and democratic activist and clerical scholar, was born in Shkodër. He was born in a poor family descended from the village of Mjedë. He attended his first lessons in Shkodër. He was then sent for secondary and higher theological studies in several countries in Europe. At first he taught at a religious high school in Croatia. Ndre Mjeda returned to his homeland in 1899 and was appointed parish priest in various villages. He was associated with the patriotic movement from an early age. In 1901, together with his brother, Lazër Mjedë, he founded the society “Agimi“, which created an alphabet and published a series of books for schools based on this alphabet. For patriotic activity, the Ottoman authorities arrested him. In 1908, at the Congress of Manastir, he was elected a member of the commission for drafting the unified Albanian alphabet. In the boom period of the “Democratic Movement” (1920-1924), Ndre Mjeda took part in the political life of the time and was elected deputy. After the failure of the June 1924 Revolution, he retired from political life and worked as a simple priest in Kukël. In recent years, he was a teacher of the Albanian language in Shkodër. Ndre Mjeda started his poetic activity early. The well-known romantic poem “Vaji i bylbylit” (“The nightingale wail”) was written in 1887. The work concluded with a call to the Albanians to stand up to win freedom. In addition to creations permeated by elegiac notes, Ndre Mjeda also composed poetic works, in which the patriotic theme was treated in the spirit of the war poetry of the renaissance, such as “Liria” (“Freedom”) (1910-1911). In it, the uprising of the highlanders of Northern Albania in 1911 found an echo, their resistance and ardent aspiration for social justice and land. In the well-known poem “Andrra e jetës” (“The dream of life”), through touching poetic images, the author revealed the tragedy of the poor mountaineers who lived in the clutches of life, the misery and the great ignorance in which they were born. The spiritual world of the characters of the poem, the feelings and thoughts, the poet gave with sparing means and skill. Ndre Mjeda also provided help in the field of linguistics. His work was developed in grammar, lexicology, philology. Ndre Mjeda is among the first Albanian linguists who studied and transcribed works of old Albanian literature. He passed away in Shkodër, in 1937. (In the photo: Ndre Mjeda)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1747-1748.
Photo: © Albanian Telegraphic Agency
Graphic processing: AHCF
