Welcome to Dutch poetry - March 2004

January 18, 2006 Many consider the last quarter of the nineteenth century the starting point of modern poetry in the Netherlands, with a group of poets called De Beweging van Tachtig (The Movement of Eighty) centred around the literary magazine De Nieuwe Gids (The New Guide). Others argue that modern poetry really started a few decades later with poets like Hendrik Marsman, J.J. Slauerhoff and the Flemish Paul van Ostaijen, each finding their individual form and style, incorporating the influence of international Expressionism. Either way, the twentieth century brought us a wide range of modern poetry icons, such as Martinus Nijhoff, Gerrit Achterberg, Lucebert, Hugo Claus (born in Brugge, Belgium), Hans Faverey (born in Paramaribo, Surinam) and Gerrit Kouwenaar.

Of these icons, Claus and Kouwenaar are still alive and writing new poems, thus contributing to the splendour of contemporary Dutch poetry. You’ll find their names on the list to your right, alongside many other interesting contemporary poets, all born between 1918 (‘grand old man’ Leo Vroman) and 1979 (rap poet Sieger M. Geerstma, who published his official debut Straatvluchter in 2002).

In our March issue, we draw your attention to the poetry of {id="4035" title="Rutger Kopland"}, nationally and internationally one of our most celebrated contemporary poets. After two previous editions ({id="4009" title="Gerrit Kouwenaar"} and {id="4000" title="Arjen Duinker"}), this is the third time we present and describe one of our poets more extensively, including new translations, interesting articles and links to related websites. We’re planning to add at least one ‘extended edition’ to this homepage every three months from now on, as there are many more fascinating Dutch poets we’d like to give you a taste of – like Tonnus Oosterhoff, to name but one.