Jump to content

Mei (poem)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the current revision of this page, as edited by Michael Askari (talk | contribs) at 13:57, 27 February 2021 (Added English title). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.

(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Herman Gorter painted by Thérèse Schwartze

Mei (May) is a poem written by the Dutch poet Herman Gorter and published in 1889. It established Gorter's reputation as a poet and one of the foremost writers of the Tachtigers movement. It is one of the most famous poems in the Dutch language. It has 4,381 lines.[1]

The opening lines are some of the most famous in dutch literature:[1][2]

Dutch English
Een nieuwe lente en een nieuw geluid:
Ik wil dat dit lied klinkt als het gefluit,
Dat ik vaak hoorde voor een zomernacht
In een oud stadje, langs de watergracht.
A new spring and a new sound:
I want this song to sound like the whistle,
That I often heard on a summer's night
In an old town, along the water canal.

The poem was published in De Nieuwe Gids, a poetry journal.[3]

Translations

[edit]

The poem has been translated into several languages:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "1889: Mei: 'Een nieuwe lente en een nieuw geluid' | Koninklijke Bibliotheek". www.kb.nl. Koninklijke Bibliotheek. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  2. ^ "Gedicht Mei van Herman Gorter". Poëzie verrijkt het leven. Poëzie verrijkt het leven. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  3. ^ Vincent, Paul. "Herman Gorter: an introduction". www.poetryinternational.org. Poetry International. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  4. ^ Gorter, Herman (2021). May, an epic poem about youth. ISBN 9789083133607.

Mei on Wikisource