![PerkVanDeVoortInDeBetouw1879](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/PerkVanDeVoortInDeBetouw1879.JPG)
Jacques Fabrice Herman Perk (10 June 1859 – 1 November 1881) was an important Dutch poet of the late 19th century, who died young. His
crown of sonnets
A crown of sonnets or sonnet corona is a sequence of sonnets, usually addressed to one person, and/or concerned with a single theme. Each of the sonnets explores one aspect of the theme, and is linked to the preceding and succeeding sonnets by repe ...
''Mathilde'', published by
Willem Kloos
Willem Johannes Theodorus Kloos (; 6 May 1859 – 31 March 1938) was a nineteenth-century Dutch poet and literary critic. He was one of the prominent figures of the Movement of Eighty and became editor in chief of ''De Nieuwe Gids'' after the edi ...
, was the first important announcement of a renewal in
Dutch poetry
Dutch language literature () comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers. Dutch-language literature is the product of the Netherlands, ...
brought about by artists that came to be known as the
Tachtigers
The Tachtigers ("Eightiers"), otherwise known as the Movement of Eighty ( nl, Beweging van Tachtig), were a radical and influential group of Dutch writers who developed a new approach in 19th-century Dutch literature. They interacted and worked t ...
. Perk's lyrical poems about nature, especially his sonnets, were influenced by
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...
, and were of great importance to Dutch poetry.
Biography
Youth and education
Jacques Perk was born into a prominent family; he was the son of
Marie Adrien Perk, a minister in the
Walloon church (part of the
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...
), and a nephew of
Betsy Perk
Christina Elizabeth (Betsy) Perk ( Delft, March 26, 1833 - Nijmegen, March 30, 1906), was a Dutch author of novels and plays, and a pioneer of the Dutch women's movement, who wrote under the pen names Philemon, Liesbeth van Altena, and Spirito. Sh ...
, an important suffragette. Perk's father preached in French, and was a progressive with great literary interests and acquaintances. Perk grew up in an environment that resembled European aristocracy more than Dutch bourgeoisie.
This literary environment was conducive to young Jacques, who began writing poetry around age 10. In 1872 the family moved from
Breda
Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...
to
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, where Perk attended the
Hogere Burgerschool. Influenced by his Dutch teacher
Willem Doorenbos, he developed a strong interest in the Renaissance ideal of well-rounded education. Disappointed with the intellectual climate of the HBS, he left it in 1877, and by next year his father had found him a position with the ''
Algemeen Handelsblad
''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands.
History
''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...
'', an important liberal newspaper, where he translated and edited from French. He also wrote many short poems, most of them dedicated to the love of his youth, Marie Champury, the daughter of his French teacher at the HBS. Her father had no faith in any relationship his daughter might form with a drop-out who was all too interested in literature, and Marie herself, while honored, was not swayed by the young poet's romanticism, which he expressed in poetry and in a five-act play called ''Herman en Martha''.
After a definitive rejection by Marie, Perk unsuccessfully attempted to sign on with a polar expedition on the ''
Willem Barents
Willem Barentsz (; – 20 June 1597), anglicized as William Barents or Barentz, was a Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer.
Barentsz went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northeast passage. He reached as far ...
''. He began reading and carefully studying the sonnets of
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...
,
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
,
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
and
Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...
. For the first time one of his poems was published, in a monthly magazine,
Jan ten Brink
Jan ten Brink (15 June 1834 – 18 July 1901) was a Dutch writer.
He was born in Appingedam, Netherlands. He studied in Leiden, went to Batavia for a few years, and in 1862 he became a teacher at a secondary school in The Hague. In 1884 he beca ...
's ''Nederland''. He began falling away from the faith of his father, started dressing more extravagantly, and spent nights discussing life with his friends, including later writer and socialist
Frank van der Goes. He had been fired by the ''Handelsblad'' already, having expressed himself in too literary a manner.
Mathilde, Kloos, and poetry
![Jacques_Perk11](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Jacques_Perk11.jpg)
In 1879 he met a young French-speaking woman, Mathilde Thomas, while on family vacation in the Belgian
Ardennes
The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...
(he may have met
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
there, though there is no conclusive evidence). In the pittoresque setting of rocks, castle ruins, brooks, and mountains, the two families spent five days in play and friendship. When they said their goodbyes, in
La Roche-en-Ardenne
La Roche-en-Ardenne ( wa, Li Rotche) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg and the arrondissement of Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium. Lying beside a bend in the River Ourthe, the small town of La Roche-en-Ardenne ...
,
[The place has a memorial for his father, Marie Adrien Perk.] Mathilde gave Perk and his sisters a goodbye poem inspired by
Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...
, and Perk's admiration was turned into love, mixed with worship. This, in turn, gave him the inspiration to recreated Mathilde in verse, and the result was a
crown of sonnets
A crown of sonnets or sonnet corona is a sequence of sonnets, usually addressed to one person, and/or concerned with a single theme. Each of the sonnets explores one aspect of the theme, and is linked to the preceding and succeeding sonnets by repe ...
, consisting of over a hundred poems, which he intended to publish as ''Mathilde, een sonnettenkrans''. He sent selections to literary magazines, including
Carel Vosmaer's ''Spectator'' and Ten Brink's ''Nederland'', but none were published; his modern lyricism with its strongly individual sentiment was not what the traditional literary critics were looking for.
In 1880 he started at law school in Amsterdam, but at that time got to know the young poet
Willem Kloos
Willem Johannes Theodorus Kloos (; 6 May 1859 – 31 March 1938) was a nineteenth-century Dutch poet and literary critic. He was one of the prominent figures of the Movement of Eighty and became editor in chief of ''De Nieuwe Gids'' after the edi ...
, with whom he developed an intimate friendship. Four of his ''Mathilde'' sonnets were published in Vosmaer's literary magazine ''Spectator'', and a few weeks later five more were published in ''Nederland''. Perk considered law school a necessary evil, just a way to make a living, but was more interested in classes in philosophy and literature. His friendship with Kloos led him to write a sonnet cycle, ''Verzen aan een vriend'' ("Verses to a friend"), written with playful ease. Kloos, who had to work much harder on his poems but had the same problems Perk did in getting them published, was deeply impressed, even while he critiqued Perk's poetry and, with his permission, edited his work.
With Kloos he traveled to
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
in 1880 and then to La Roche, where a year before he had spent five passionate days with Mathilde. Though his sister Dora maintained an active correspondence with her, Jacques felt no need to see the real Mathilde again, the more divine portrayal of her in his poetry having taken her place. When he returned Vosmaer asked him to write for ''Spectator'', including literary criticism; he wrote the masterful poem ''De schim van P.C. Hooft'' for the 300th celebration of
P.C. Hooft.
Final year, Joanna
![Graf Jacques Perk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Graf_Jacques_Perk.JPG)
In 1881, while preparing for his sister's wedding, Perk met the groom's sister, Joanna Blancke, and wrote her passionate letters. He made an attempt to recast his ''Mathilde'' cycle with her in the central position, but Joanna had become too important and he became consumed by love and lyricism. He ended his friendship with Kloos. Joanna, however, was engaged to another man, and while she broke off that engagement she proved, in her loneliness, to be inaccessible to him. He tried to bridge the gap between them by writing, hoping to win her that way, and toward the end of 1881 published, in ''Spectator'', a cycle called ''Eene helle- en hemelvaart'' ("A journey through hell and heaven") which included a number of sonnets from the ''Mathilde'' cycle, reworked for Joanna. His poem "Iris", influenced by Shelley and published shortly before his death, is dedicated to Joanna, and its final lines speak of loneliness, desire, and death. Joanna's response to Perk's publication of his feelings for her is not known. At the end of September Perk fell ill after rowing on the
Amstel
The Amstel () is a river in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It flows from the Aarkanaal and Drecht in Nieuwveen northwards, passing Uithoorn, Amstelveen, and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, to the IJ in Amsterdam. Annually, the riv ...
, and developed a fever and persistent coughing. In the meantime his literary star was on the rise:
Joseph Alberdingk Thijm and Vosmaer praised his work, the latter comparing him to
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
.
But in mid-October it became clear that Perk only had a few weeks to live, due to an abscess on one of his lungs, which had bothered him before. He said goodbye to his family on Sunday, 30 October, telling them he was headed toward eternity fully consciously. He died on 1 November, around five in the afternoon. He was buried on 5 November on the
Oude Oosterbegraafplaats in Amsterdam, en was reburied in 1900 on the
Nieuwe Oosterbegraafplaats (vak 1 nr. 19). His grave is a
Rijksmonument
A rijksmonument (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands ...
.
Posthumous publications
Perk's ''Gedichten'' were published after his death by Vosmaer and Kloos (who altered the sequence of the poems significantly and made many editorial changes). The introduction, written by Kloos, became a founding manifesto of the
Tachtigers
The Tachtigers ("Eightiers"), otherwise known as the Movement of Eighty ( nl, Beweging van Tachtig), were a radical and influential group of Dutch writers who developed a new approach in 19th-century Dutch literature. They interacted and worked t ...
.
Primary bibliography
*1881 '' De schim van P.C. Hooft.'' In: ''De Nederlandsche Spectator,'' 26 maart 1881. Den Haag, Nijhoff.
*1881 '' Eene Helle- en Hemelvaart.'' in: ''De Nederlandsche Spectator,'' 3 september 1881. Den Haag, Nijhoff.
*1881 ''Iris.'' In: ''De Tijdspiegel'' van Oktober 1881. Amsterdam, Veen.
*1882 '' Gedichten. Met een Voorrede van mr. Carel Vosmaer, en een inleiding van Willem Kloos.'' Sneek, Pijttersen.
*1894 ''Nagelaten verzen van Jacques Perk, uitgegeven door Willem Kloos.'' in: ''De Nieuwe Gids,'' jaargang 9. Amsterdam,
Versluys.
*1941 ''Jacques Perks Mathilde-krans, naar de handschriften volledig uitgegeven door G. Stuiveling,'' drie delen (wetenschappelijke uitgave). Den Haag, Boucher.
*1957 ''Verzamelde gedichten, naar de handschriften uitgegeven door Garmt Stuiveling.'' Amsterdam, Arbeiderspers.
Biography
* Perk, Betsy (1902). ''Jacques Perk, geschetst voor 't Jong Nederland der XXe Eeuw, met onuitgegeven Prozastukken, Gedichten en Portretten van den Dichter.'' Amsterdam, S.L. van Looy.
* Stuiveling, G. (1939). ''Een dichter verliefd. Brieven van Jacques Perk aan Joanna Blancke, uitgegeven en ingeleid door G. Stuiveling'', Den Haag, Leopold.
* Stuiveling, G. (1957). ''Het korte leven van Jacques Perk.'' Amsterdam, Querido.
* Hoorweg, C. (2014). ''Van Mathilde tot Mei. De dichters van 1880 en de vriendschapssonnetten van Jacques Perk en Willem Kloos'' Baarn, Prominent.
References
External links
Works by Jacques Perk at Project Laurens Jz Coster"Jacques Perk"at
Digital Library for Dutch Literature
The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...
Facsimile van een van de Mathilde-manuscripten in het Geheugen van Nederland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perk, Jacques
Dutch poets
1859 births
1881 deaths