Leo Vroman

In the post-war poetry of the Netherlands, Vroman bridges the gap between the surrealist leanings of the Fifties’ poets and the realism of the younger generations. Perhaps even more remarkable than the formal aspects of Vroman’s poems is their content. Vroman is both ultrapersonal, to the point of regularly introducing members of his own family, and universal, in capturing the state of the world in the expression of individual emotions. Seeing the large in the small is undoubtedly part of his work as a haematologist, a field of research that often finds its way into his poems.

The sweeping, yet never pretentious or preachy analogies between man’s microcosmos and the all-encompassing universe also provide a consolation for the fears of life and death that do pervade this lucid and seemingly light-hearted poetry. The title of his poem ‘Chaos, dear indivisibility’ says it all: life, imperfect, chaotic, is essentially one.

Owing to Vroman’s light touch, his often profound subjects easily imprint themselves on the memory, and quite a few of his poems have entered the canon of Dutch literature. Vroman is also a remarkably prolific poet, untroubled by fashions or trends. His residence in the United States may have helped him retain over the years that quality of light-footed profundity, already so apparent at his official debut in 1946.
[Leo Vroman took part in the Poetry International Festival Rotterdam 2001. This text was written on that occasion.]

Selected Bibliography

Poetry
Gedichten,Querido, Amsterdam, 1946
Tineke, Querido, Amsterdam, 1948
Gedichten. Vroegere en Latere, Querido, Amsterdam, 1949
Uit slaapwandelen, Querido, Amsterdam, 1957
114 Gedichten, Querido, Amsterdam, 1964
Nieuwsgierig, Querido, Amsterdam, 1980
Het verdoemd carillon, Querido, Amsterdam, 1981
Dierbare ondeelbaarheid, Querido, Amsterdam, 1989
De godganselijke nacht, Querido, Amsterdam, 1993
Vergelijkingen, Herik, Landgraaf, 1996
Tweede Verschiet, Querido, Amsterdam, 2003
Soms Is Alles Eeuwig, Querido, Amsterdam, 2009
Daar, Querido, Amsterdam, 2011
Die Vleugels, Querido, Amsterdam, 2013
En toch is alles wat we doen natuur, Querido, Amsterdam, 2018

Prose
De Adem van Mars, Querido, Amsterdam, 1956
Het Carnarium, Querido, Amsterdam, 1973
Warm, Rood, Nat & Lief, Contact, Amsterdam, 1996

Plays
Voorgrond, achtergrond, Querido, Amsterdam, 1969

Links
Leo Vroman at De Groener Amsterdamer