[5] His unruly spirit made him change his surroundings again and so he continued his education in Zagreb, in the upper town grammar school.

[6][7] Between 1918 and 1919, he immersed himself into writing poems whilst staying in a hamlet of Drinovci, Dubrava Majići, in a cottage where his mother grew up.

His modest income and dedication to his literary work left a mark on his health, so he went back to Drinovci in December 1923 and made up with his father.

However, some of his poems could be called anthological, like "Pjesnici" (Poets), "Veče i ja" (The Evening and I), "Opomena" (Warning), "Ručak siromaha" (The Poor Man's Dinner), "Žene pred uredima" (Women in Front of Offices), "Smrt i ja" (Death and I), "Pjesma jednom brijegu" (Poem to a Mountain), "Smrt" (Death), and some others.

After writing under the influence of Matoš, Kranjčević, Vidrić and Domjanić, he bore down on the traditionalists and started favouring an unrestrained expression and expressionist spirit.

[citation needed] In his journals, Šimić published his essays that defended the principles of expressionism, which influenced his later poetry.