Mei (poem) explained

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]}

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

Translations

The poem has been translated into several languages:

• French, translated by Nicolas Ouwehand and published in 2017
• Western Frisian, translated by Klaas Bruinsma published in 1998
• English, translated by M. Kruijff and published in 2021.^[4]

References

Mei on Wikisource

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1889: Mei: 'Een nieuwe lente en een nieuw geluid' Koninklijke Bibliotheek . www.kb.nl . Koninklijke Bibliotheek . 30 March 2020.
2. Web site: Gedicht Mei van Herman Gorter . Poëzie verrijkt het leven . Poëzie verrijkt het leven . 30 March 2020.
3. Web site: Vincent . Paul . Herman Gorter: an introduction . www.poetryinternational.org . Poetry International . 30 March 2020.
4. Book: Gorter, Herman. May, an epic poem about youth. 2021. 9789083133607.