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Pieter Cornelis BoutensHis original family name was changed from Bouters to Boutens by a decision of the District Court of Middelburg, 14 March 1898, Act No. 79 (February 20, 1870 – March 14, 1943) was a
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...
,
classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
, and mystic.


Biography

Boutens was born in Middelburg. He grew up in
Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...
in a strict, Protestant middle-class environment. After finishing the Gymnasium Middelburg, he began to study classical languages in 1890 at the
University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollm ...
, and graduated in 1899 on a study of the Greek comedy writer
Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his fo ...
. His debut as a poet was the ''Utrecht Student Almanac'' in 1891. His early work was inspired by the ''verses'' of
Herman Gorter Herman Gorter (26 November 1864, Wormerveer – 15 September 1927, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Brussels) was a Dutch poet and socialist. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers, a highly influential group of Dutch writers who worked together ...
; later sources of inspiration were
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institutio ...
,
Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied ...
and the Bible. Boutens' style became based on the idea of achieving a "higher reality". In the course of 45 years, he published some 20 volumes of poetry, but also a large number of translations of Ancient Greek (i.a. ''Ilias'' and ''Odyssey''), Persian, French, German and English poets. In 1894 he accepted the post of teacher of classical languages at the ''Noorthey'' boarding school for boys in
Voorschoten Voorschoten () is a village and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is a smaller town in the Randstad, enclosed by the cities of Leiden, Wassenaar and The Hague. The municipality covers an area of of whi ...
, at the time a renowned institute for young people from aristocratic families. After a physical collapse in 1904 and a subsequent holiday in
Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
, he settled in
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...
, where he earned his living by private tuition and the financial support of some aristocratic friends he had met at Noorthey. Boutens became a member of the Association of Writers (founded in 1905), and became its president in 1918. In the last year of his life, during the German occupation in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, he also became a member of the ''
Gleichschaltung The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied ...
'' professional artists' association, the
Nederlandsche Kultuurkamer The Netherlands Chamber of Culture ( nl, Nederlandsche Kultuurkamer, italic=no) was an institution established by Nazi Germany in the occupied Netherlands to regulate the production and distribution of art. Officially established on 25 Nove ...
. This taint did not hinder his posthumous fame as a poet and translator: his voluminous collected works were successively published in seven volumes from 1943-1954. In the 1980s his homosexuality was disclosed. A volume of poetry about homosexual love he had published in 1919 as a work of a poet who had prematurely died, the ''Strofen van Andries de Hoghe'' turned out to be Boutens's own work. Boutens died in 1943 in The Hague, 73 years old.


Works

* 1898 - ''Verzen'' * 1902 - ''Praeludiën'' * 1904 - ''Naenia'' * 1907 - ''Stemmen'' * 1908 - ''Beatrijs'' * 1908 - ''Spel van Platoons leven'' * 1909 - ''Vergeten liedjes'' (''Forgotten songs'') * 1910 - ''Alianora'' * 1912 - ''Carmina'' * 1916 - ''Lente-maan'' * 1919 - ''Strophen uit de nalatenschap van Andries de Hoghe'' * 1920 - ''Sonnetten'' * 1921 - ''Liederen van Isoude'' * 1922 - ''Zomerwolken'' (''Summer Clouds'') * 1926 - ''De sonnetten van
Louise Labé Louise Charlin Perrin Labé, ( 1524 – 25 April 1566), also identified as La Belle Cordière (The Beautiful Ropemaker), was a feminist French poet of the Renaissance born in Lyon, the daughter of wealthy ropemaker Pierre Charly and his second wif ...
'' (''The Sonnets of Louise Labé'') * 1930 - ''Oud-Perzische kwatrijnen'' * 1931 - ''Bezonnen verzen'' * 1932 - ''Honderd Hollandsche kwatrijnen'' * 1932 - ''Strophen en andere verzen uit de nalatenschap van Andries de Hoghe'' * 1942 - ''Tusschenspelen'' * 1942 - ''Gegeven keur'' * 1943-1954 - ''Verzameld werk'' (Collected works) seven volumes, published after his death


Awards

* 1913 -
Tollens Prize The Tollens-Fonds ("Tollens foundation)" is a Dutch organization named for poet Hendrik Tollens (1780–1856). The organization awards a notable literary prize, the Tollens Prize and till 2008 also the Jacobson Prize. Tollens Prize The Tollens Pri ...
for Lifetime Achievement * 1914 - Nieuwe Gids-prijs for ''Carmina'' * 1925 - Award for Mastery for ''Zomerwolken''


References


External links

* *
Poems by Boutens in the Laurens Janszoon Coster project
(Dutch)
Boutens in het ''Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland''
(Dutch)

(Dutch)
Collection of works by Boutens at the Zeeuwse Bibliotheek
(Dutch)

(Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Boutens, Pieter Cornelis 1870 births 1943 deaths People from Middelburg, Zeeland Dutch male poets