''Mei'' (May) is a poem written by the Dutch poet Herman Gorter and published in 1889. It established Gorter's reputation as a poet and one of the foremost writers of the Tachtigers movement. It is one of the most famous poems in the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' ...

. It has 4,381 lines. The opening lines are some of the most famous in dutch literature: The poem was published in '' De Nieuwe Gids'', a poetry journal.

Translations

The poem has been translated into several languages: *

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, translated by Nicolas Ouwehand and published in 2017 * Western Frisian, translated by Klaas Bruinsma published in 1998 * English, translated by M. Kruijff and published in 2021.

References

''Mei'' on Wikisource Dutch poems 1889 poems {{DEFAULTSORT:Mei