Martinus Nijhoff se bundel, "De Wandelaar", gesien as tydsverskynsel deur kritiese verwysing na die tema en die styl in die bundel

Abstract

This study is a comprehensive investigation of De Wandelaar, Martinus Nijhoff's first volume of poetry, as seen in die light of the date of publication. De Wandelaar was first published in 1916. It was a time of turmoil in Europe. The First World War was in full swing. How would this contemporary society present itself to Nijhoff? What influences are discernible in this volume? What is 'new' in De Wandelaar and what is 'traditional? Chapter 1 of this study is a critical in-depth analysis of the first two poems in the volume, 'De Wandelaar' and 'Het Licht'. The contrasting themes of alienation in 'De Wandelaar' and sacrifice and redemption in 'Het Licht' are explored and motivated. The second chapter defines the term 'alienation' in general. Brief references to some of the poems indicate existential tendencies in the volume. By shorter as well as more in-depth analyses of the relevant poems the theme of alienation is investigated as it appears in other poems in the volume. In chapter three the themes of sacrifice and redemption as symbolized in 'breken' and 'licht' are investigated as they appear in the volume. Chapter four examines closely the style in the volume with regard to poetic form, e.g. the sonnet is defined in general and then explored as it appears in the volume; metre; rhyme and imagery. Chapter five traces the relationship between theme, style and the spirit of the time with reference to the cultural and literary climate in Europe in general and in the Netherlands in particular during the years 1870 to 1914. It is concluded that even though there are four separate sections in the volume, namely 'De Wandelaar', 'Scherzo', 'De Vervloekte' and 'Het Zachte Leven', each to a certain extent reflecting its own theme and tone, two main themes dominate: alienation and redemption. The theme of alienation runs like a leitmotiv through the first three sections of the volume, whereas the religious theme of redemption is implicit in the last section. It is noted, however, that where the symbolism of 'breken' and 'licht' appears in the first three sections a negative view is indicated as opposed to the positive view in the last section. The style, i.e. the poetic form of the poems, metre and rhyme, imagery and grouping, indicates an ordering of the poems that reflects the two main themes. There is much that is 'traditional' in the volume: the strict sonnet form; very regular metre and rhyme; the conditioned view of religion as an answer to man's problems, but dominant in the volume is the theme of alienation, of man and his existenz-angst symbolized in the many lonely 'outsider' figures in the world of the poems - a 'modern' concept and 'new' in the poetry of the Netherlands in 1916.