biography
pronunciation:
[niyhof]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1894–1953)
|
| biography:
| Poet, born in The Hague, W Netherlands. He studied law and later literature. He published his poems in several magazines, but avoided joining any movement or group. His poems express an intense loneliness, a fear of life, and a longing for the innocence of a child. In later works his fear of life changes into a longing to be in contact with reality, and shows the influence of existentialism. He wrote in everyday language which approached speech (poésie parlante or parlando), but in traditional form (sonnet). Most famous are his poems ‘Awater’ and ‘Het uur U’, and he also translated Shakespeare, T S Eliot, and others, and published some biblical plays. He was posthumously awarded the Constantijn Huygensprijs for his oeuvre in 1953. |
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