Martinus Nijhoff (20 April 1894, in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
– 26 January 1953, in The Hague) was a Dutch poet and essayist. He studied literature in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
and law in
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
. His debut was made in 1916 with his volume ''De wandelaar'' ("The wanderer"). From that moment he gradually expanded his reputation by his unique style of poetry: not experimental, like
Paul Van Ostaijen
Paul van Ostaijen (22 February 1896 – 18 March 1928) was a Belgian Dutch-language poet and writer.
Nickname
Van Ostaijen was born in Antwerp to Dutch father and Flemish mother. His nickname was ''Mister 1830'', derived from his habit of walk ...
, yet distinguished by the clarity of his language combined with mystical content. He was a literary craftsman who employed skilfully various verse forms from different literary epochs.
Some of his best-known works include ''Het Uur U'' ("H Hour", 1936) and the long poem ' (1934). A number of individual sonnets also rose to fame, particularly ''De Moeder de Vrouw'' ("The Mother the Woman/Wife") commemorating the opening of a bridge over the river
Waal near
Zaltbommel
Zaltbommel (), also known, historically and colloquially, as Bommel, is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands.
History
The city of Zaltbommel
The town of Zaltbommel was first mentioned as "Bomela" in the year 850. Zaltbommel received ...
.
Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist.
Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...
considered the poem ''Awater'' one of the grandest poems of the 20th century.
[See: Cynthia L. Haven]
''Joseph Brodsky: conversations.''
University Press of Mississippi 2002, p. 68. He was awarded
Constantijn Huygens Prize
The Constantijn Huygens Prize (Dutch: ''Constantijn Huygens-prijs'') is a Dutch literary award.[Heer Halewijn
Heer Halewijn (also known as ''Van Here Halewijn'' and ''Jan Albers'', and in English ''The Song of Lord Halewijn'') is a Dutch folk tale which survives in folk ballad. Although the first printed version of the song only appears in an anthology p ...]
* ''
Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae
''Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae'' (or ''CIMRM'') is a two-volume collection of inscriptions and monuments relating primarily to the Mithraic Mysteries. It was compiled by Maarten Jozef Vermaseren and published at The ...
''
Notes
External links
*
*
File Martinus Nijhoff in the Digital Library of Dutch Literature (DBNL)*
Biography Martinus Nijhoff(W.A. Ornée, 'Nijhoff, Martinus (1894–1953)', in ''Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland''
iographical Dictionary of The Netherlands 13-03-2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nijhoff, Martinus
1894 births
1953 deaths
Dutch male poets
Writers from The Hague
Constantijn Huygens Prize winners
20th-century Dutch poets
20th-century Dutch male writers