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Hendrik Marsman was a Dutch poet and writer The collection Verzen 1923 Verses expresses an antihumanist anti intellectual rebelliousness which the poet called vitalism As editor of the periodical De Vrije bladen The Free Press he became in 1925 the foremost critic of the younger generation His next collection of verse appeared in 1927 with the English title Paradise Regained and was greeted as a major artistic achievement Another cycle Porta Nigra dominated by the idea of death appeared in 1934 His last book of verse Tempel en kruis 1940 Temple and Cross an autobiographical account of the poet s development reaffirms humanistic ideals After obtaining a Portuguese visa in Bordeaux France on June 18 1940 from Hendrik Marsman was a Dutch poet and writer The collection Verzen 1923 Verses expresses an antihumanist anti intellectual rebelliousness which the poet called vitalism As editor of the periodical De Vrije bladen The Free Press he became in 1925 the foremost critic of the younger generation His next collection of verse appeared in 1927 with the English title Paradise Regained and was greeted as a major artistic achievement Another cycle Porta Nigra dominated by the idea of death appeared in 1934 His last book of verse Tempel en kruis 1940 Temple and Cross an autobiographical account of the poet s development reaffirms humanistic ideals After obtaining a Portuguese visa in Bordeaux France on June 18 1940 from the Consul General Aristides de Sousa Mendes Marsman boarded a ship bound for England Tragically he drowned three days later when the ship sunk after an explosion in the English Channel His wife survived as the only passenger. His poetry is vitalistic and expressionistic and fear of death as a metaphor for defeat in life is a recurring theme His Herinnering aan Holland Remembrance of Holland Denkend aan Holland zie ik breede rivieren traag door oneindig laagland gaan Thinking about Holland I see broad rivers slowly moving through endless lowlands In 2000 the Dutch people chose this as the Dutch Poem of the Century site_link.
