Emile Verhaeren
Emile Verhaeren (21 May 1855 – 27 November 1916) was a Belgian poet who
wrote in the French language, and one of the chief founders of the school of
Symbolism.
He was born in a Flemish, but
French-speaking, middle-class family in Sint-Amands. Nevertheless Emile
Verhaeren also spoke the local dialect (Dutch was not taught at school at
that time). At the age of eleven, he was sent to a strict boarding school in
Ghent run by Jesuits - The Jesuit College of Sainte Barbe, where he became
completely Frenchified. He then went to study law at the University of
Leuven. Here he produced his first literary efforts in a student paper.
During those years, he became acquainted with like-minded students. They
would later become his collaborators on the revolutionary artistic magazine
"La Jeune Belgique".
Having gained his PhD in Law, he became a
trainee (1881–1884) with Edmond Picard, a renowned criminal lawyer, who also
played a pivotal role on the Brussels artistic scene. Emile Verhaeren came
in frequent contact with young, radical writers and artists at a time of
artistic renewal. He tried only two cases before a court before deciding to
dedicate his life to poetry and literature.
He soon became the mouthpiece for the
artistic revival at the turn of the century. Fascinated by the works of the
painters of the artistic circle "Les XX", he wrote many articles in La Jeune
Belgique and L'Art Moderne, with flamboyant criticism on the
artistic-literary works of the Brussels art world. His articles brought many
promising young talents, such as James Ensor, to the attention of the
public.
Through these articles, he became a
lifelong friend of the Neo-impressionist Belgian painter Théo van
Rysselberghe, resulting in a vast body of letters. In one of these letters,
he was described by Maria van Rysselberghe, as "a unique personality, a
whirlwind with an indomitable character, who didn't bother himself about
bourgeois rules and who provoked or overwhelmed everybody by his
straightforward directness".
He was one of the most prolific poets of
his era. His first collection of poems "Les Flamandes" was published in
1883. Inspired by the paintings of Jacob Jordaens, David Teniers and Jan
Steen, Verhaeren described in a direct and often provocative, naturalistic
way his country and the Flemish people. It was an immediate success in
avant-garde milieus, but caused a great deal of controversy in Catholic
circles. His next book "Les Moines" (1886) was not the success he had hoped
for. This, and his health problems, led to a deep crisis. In this period he
published Les Soirs (1888), Les Débâcles (1888) and Les Flambeaux noirs
(1891).
On 24 August 1891 he married Marthe Massin, a
talented artist from Liège. His new-found happiness found expression in
three poetry books : Les Heures Claires (1896), Les Heures d’Après-midi
(1905) and Les Heures du Soir (1911).
He wrote his first play "Les Aubes" in 1898. Here he waged a fight against
social injustice and the decline of life in the countryside.
In 1898 he moved to Saint-Cloud, near Paris. By the turn of the century, he
had become world-famous. His works were translated into more than twenty
languages. He travelled, giving lectures, throughout Europe. The outbreak of
World War I had a devastating effect on the poet's deep pacifist feelings.
When Emile Verhaeren died on 27 November 1916 at Rouen station (by falling
under a train), it was Théo van Rysselberghe and his friend, the famous
French writer (and later Nobel Prize winner) André Gide who had to inform
Marthe Verhaeren of the death of her husband.
His vast body of work shows him as one of the most prominent figures in
Belgian literature. He narrowly missed the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1911 (awarded to his friend Maurice Maeterlinck).
St. Amands, his native city, has dedicated a museum to this giant of Belgian
literature, showing many original manuscripts of his works and letters and
also works of his artistic friends Théo van Rysselberghe, Leon Spilliaert,
Constantin Meunier, Paul Signac and Ossip Zadkine.
