Cynthia Lenige, also known as Kynke Lenige (6 November 1755 – 3 October 1780), was a Frisian poet. She died young, and her body of work is limited mostly to

occasional poetry Occasional poetry is poetry composed for a particular occasion. In the history of literature, it is often studied in connection with orality, performance, and patronage. Term As a term of literary criticism, "occasional poetry" describes the work ...

, though she also wrote a few satirical poems which argued for a classical education.

Life and work

Lenige was born in Makkum, in 1755, the daughter of poet and merchant Dirk Lenige and Akke Rymersma; she had one sister and two brothers, and the family were

Mennonites Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

. Due to frail health she never attended school, but was taught at home, first by her father and then by Teake Dooitzens, a teacher who ran a local school. She was taught to write in Dutch and was never taught

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. She never married, and thus had ample opportunity to educate herself, and to read and write in a room of her own. Under the influence of her father she began writing poetry at an early age, and her earliest work consisted of

occasional poems {{Short pages monitor