Branko Radičević was born in Slavonski Brod on 15 March 1824. Aleksije was his baptismal name before he changed it to Branko, a more common Serbian name. He finished high school in Sremski Karlovci, the setting of his best poems. He then studied in Vienna. In 1847 Radičević's first book of poetry appeared, launching a new era in Serbian poetry. He went to Serbia but soon returned to Vienna to study medicine, where he was surrounded by Serb intellectuals, either living in the city or passing through, including his lifelong friend Bogoboj Atanacković, Vuk Karadžić, Đuro Daničić, Milica Stojadinović-Srpkinja and Petar II Petrović-Njegoš. Radičević's second collection of poetry is considered weaker than his first. Near his death he wrote a notable poem titled "Kad mlidijah umreti" (As I Thought of Dying).