Martinus Nijhoff (20 April 1894, in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

– 26 January 1953, in The Hague) was a Dutch poet and essayist. He studied literature in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

and law in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

. His debut was made in 1916 with his volume ''De wandelaar'' ("The wanderer"). From that moment he gradually expanded his reputation by his unique style of poetry: not experimental, like

Paul Van Ostaijen Paul van Ostaijen (22 February 1896 – 18 March 1928) was a Belgian Dutch-language poet and writer. Nickname Van Ostaijen was born in Antwerp to Dutch father and Flemish mother. His nickname was ''Mister 1830'', derived from his habit of walk ...

, yet distinguished by the clarity of his language combined with mystical content. He was a literary craftsman who employed skilfully various verse forms from different literary epochs. Some of his best-known works include ''Het Uur U'' ("H Hour", 1936) and the long poem ' (1934). A number of individual sonnets also rose to fame, particularly ''De Moeder de Vrouw'' ("The Mother the Woman/Wife") commemorating the opening of a bridge over the river Waal near

Zaltbommel Zaltbommel (), also known, historically and colloquially, as Bommel, is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. History The city of Zaltbommel The town of Zaltbommel was first mentioned as "Bomela" in the year 850. Zaltbommel received ...

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...

considered the poem ''Awater'' one of the grandest poems of the 20th century.See: Cynthia L. Haven
''Joseph Brodsky: conversations.''
University Press of Mississippi 2002, p. 68. He was awarded

Constantijn Huygens Prize The Constantijn Huygens Prize (Dutch: ''Constantijn Huygens-prijs'') is a Dutch literary award.Heer Halewijn Heer Halewijn (also known as ''Van Here Halewijn'' and ''Jan Albers'', and in English ''The Song of Lord Halewijn'') is a Dutch folk tale which survives in folk ballad. Although the first printed version of the song only appears in an anthology p ...

* ''

Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae ''Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae'' (or ''CIMRM'') is a two-volume collection of inscriptions and monuments relating primarily to the Mithraic Mysteries. It was compiled by Maarten Jozef Vermaseren and published at The ...

Notes

External links

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File Martinus Nijhoff in the Digital Library of Dutch Literature (DBNL)
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Biography Martinus Nijhoff
(W.A. Ornée, 'Nijhoff, Martinus (1894–1953)', in ''Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland'' iographical Dictionary of The Netherlands 13-03-2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nijhoff, Martinus 1894 births 1953 deaths Dutch male poets Writers from The Hague Constantijn Huygens Prize winners 20th-century Dutch poets 20th-century Dutch male writers