Selected Poems

This is the most extensive selection in English of poems by one of the all-
time great Dutch poets, Herman Gorter (1864-1927). A companion
volume to M. Kruijff?s translation of the epic May, this book welcomes the
reader to the rich spectrum of Gorter?s lyric verse.
The selection traces the stages of Gorter?s career as a poet. It opens
with 22 poems from his introvertive ?sensitivist? Verses (Verzen, 1890)
which have been called the beginning of modern Dutch poetry. These are
followed by poems from later collections in which Gorter was transitioning
to a less self- and more world-focused perspective. In the subsequent
passages from the long epic Pan (1912/1916), he has c lear ly become a
?socialist? poet, albeit in a unique visionary sense. He is now pursuing a
theme which will obsess him for the rest of his life: how to address the
object of his love as both an individual woman and an incarnate
summation of all humanity.
The rest of the book comprises the first publication in English of
Gorter?s little-known last work Lyrics (Liedjes,1930).Haft?s judicious
abridgment preserves the structure, erotic themes, and lyric high points of
this outstanding sequence which originally occupied three volumes.

Translator Lloyd Haft (1946) grew up in the USA and graduated from Harvard.
Graduate studies in Chinese took him to Leiden, and he has lived in The
Netherlands since 1968. He soon discovered a fascination with modern
Dutch poetry, starting with Herman Gorter?s famous (or notorious) Verses.
He became a regular translator for Poetry International and published ten
volumes of his own poetry in Dutch, including a free-verse adaptation of
the Psalms which won the 2004 Ida Gerhardt Prize.
Professionally, for many years Lloyd Haft taught Chinese language
and literature at Leiden University. Since retirement he has spent much of
his time in Taiwan with his wife Katie Su, a writer on theater arts in Taiwan.
His collected translations from the metaphysical poet Zhou Mengdie are
scheduled for publication in 2021.