Poetry
Verzen
Not translated into English
Willem Kloos · 1894
Opening lines
Ik denk altoos aan u, als aan die droomen,
Waarin, een ganschen, langen zaalgen nacht,
Een nooit gezien gelaat ons tegenlacht,
Zóó onuitspreek'lijk lief, dat bij het doomen
I think of you always, as of those dreams
In which, through a whole long blissful night,
A face never seen smiles at us,
So unspeakably dear that at the misting
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from dbnl.org
Synopsis
A collection in no chronological order in which sonnets predominate: the poet speaks of love, the sea, flowers broken in bud, and proclaims himself a god in the depths of his thought, master of what he writes. Alongside them are songs, a few lines in German and French, the dramatic fragment “Rhodopis”, the three unfinished cantos of “Okeanos”, the cycle “Het boek van Kind en God”, born of the engagement of a beloved friend, and sonnets of abuse in which the poet settles scores.
Context
The collection appeared in July 1894 from W. Versluys, in Amsterdam, and brings together, in an order that is not that of their composition, pieces mostly first given to De Nieuwe Gids; “Rhodopis” goes back to its author's beginnings, in 1880. The sonnet “Ik ben een God in 't diepst van mijn gedachten” was judged blasphemous by some readers, when it only meant to make the poet the sovereign master of his verse. The text of the first edition was reprinted in 2017.
Who it is for
A collection in Dutch, mostly sonnets, with dramatic fragments and an epic fragment. The order of the volume does not follow chronology, and one can open it anywhere.
Prizes and reception
The collection of the most famous sonnets of the movement of 1880, several of whose opening lines have passed into common memory.