| dc.description.abstract | Poets often express their ideas on the creative
process in essays or poems. Martinus Nijhoff is no
exception. He has done just this in his essays on
prose, drama and poetry. It naturally follows that
the scope of this study would be too extensive if
all the genres were examined. It was therefore
decided to concentrate on Nijhoff's views on poetry.
His essays on poetry cover a wide range. There are
views on individual volumes of poetry, and then not
only in Dutch but also in German, English and
French. Début anthologies have had a fair share
of reviews. Criticisms on poetry written by other
authors have also been examined by Nijhoff. The
same applies to the translated poetry of, for example,
Dante and Chaucer. For the purpose of this study
only views valid for all poetry have been considered.
Nijhoff's articles have been conveniently collected
in two volumes Martin us Nijhoj'f verzameld werk -
Kritisch, verhalend en nagelaten proza ( 1961 ).
Poetry, according to Nijhoff, is the most important of
the three genres of literature. The extent to which
Nijhoff's views on poetry in general are reflected
in his own poetry is discussed as a part of this
study. It is an accepted axioma that what a poet
says with regard to the poetry of others, is also true of his own work.
Nijhoff's Poetic Theory
Because Nijhoff wrote over a period of thirty five
years it can be expected that a poetic theory of
some sort must have developed. Nijhoff emphasized
different aspects of poetry at different times.
Thus we find at one particular stage .emphasis being
placed on the idea in poetry; on the poet's attitude
to life etc. At other stages the emphasis is placed
on the use of the word, the sentence, structure etc.
in poetry.
Nijhoff's views on poetry have been catalogued and
discussed under the following headings:
Poetry and the Poet's attitude to life;
The characteristics of poetry;
The task and language of the poet;
The creation of poetry;
Poetic technique .
Poetics in practice
Nijhoff's own poetry is reviewed in the last part of
this study. A general impression is gained from
the reviews of Nijhoff's poetry. These criticisms
have been carefully selected so as to give an
unbiased and objective appreciation of his work.
Critics of Nijhoff's period as well as contemporaries
have been consulted.
Finally an assessment has been made to illustrate to
what extent Nijhoff's views on poetry are evident in his own work.
Three programmatic poems have been analyzed: De Wandelaar,
Satyr en Christofoor and De twee nablijvers. | en_US |
