GREGORČIČ Simon (15 October 1844 – 24 November 1906) was a Slovene poet and Roman Catholic priest. He is considered the first lyric poet of the Slovene realist poetry and the most melodical Slovene poet.
Gregorčič was born in the small mountain village of Vrsno above the Soča river in the County of Gorizia and Gradišča. After finishing high school he entered the seminary in Gorizia. He was ordained on October 27, 1867, and became a vicar in Kobarid in September 1868. There he continued with his literary work and together with his friend Ignacij Gruntar in 1871 founded a public reading room. In 1873 he was transferred to Rihemberk in the Vipava Valley. After that he was transferred a few more times before retiring in 1903, selling his house and moving into an apartment in Gorizia where he died on November 24, 1906.
As a student he began writing lyrical poetry which was published in many literary magazines (Slovenski glasnik, Zgodnja Danica, Zvon, Ljubljanski zvon). It is apparent from his work that he was inspired by Romantic poetic forms. Mostly he was writing love, patriotic, life narrative poems and even some epic poems. His poems, such as the ode "Soči" ("To the Soča"), were patriotic in nature, but he also wrote love poems, such as Kropiti te ne smem ("I am not allowed to bless you"), and worked in other poetic genres. His most important works were Človeka nikar, Ujetega ptiča tožba ("The Snared Bird's Lament"), Moj črni plašč, Veseli pastir, Nazaj v planinski raj, Oljki.
He succeeded with his first collection Prvi zvezek Poezij (1882) and after six years he released his second collection, Poezije, a fourth collection / Četrti zvezek Poezij (1908) was released.
Slovene composer Anton Nedved, Hugolin Sattner, Breda Šček, Pavle Merku and Tine Bec set Gregorčič's texts to music.
