HENDRIK CARETTE

A failed poem by a great poet is still more captivating than a good poem by a minor poet.






Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

ACHILLE CHAVEE

Surrealism was for me a true liberation, tied to the social and rebellious aspect of the strikes of '32. The synthesis between poetry and my political beliefs came naturally to me.






Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

GERALD BRENAN

Poets and painters are outside the class system, or rather they constitute a special class of their own, like the circus people and the Gypsies.






Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

GABRIELA MISTRAL

I write poetry because I can’t disobey the impulse; it would be like blocking a spring that surges up in my throat. For a long time I’ve been the servant of the song that comes, that appears and can’t be buried away.






Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

ROLAND JOORIS

My father was a blacksmith, a craftsman. He made things that fit together firmly, horseshoes that had to fit exactly on that horse's hoof. A fence or a plow, robust items. I have the same desire, although I try to create a good object from words. I would prefer for people to say of my work: it is a good craftsman who made this. And if that isn't too big a word, there is also a philosophy behind it: I want to capture the essence of things. Poetry is a quest through language for what is essential in life. In that sense, writing for me is actually removing, editing, until those words remain in all their loadedness.


From an interview in Poëziekrant, January 1986





Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

J. BERNLEF

How do I proceed? In any case, that is different with poetry and prose. Poetry is often present from a hunch, an image or a first sentence. Then you know that you have to put everything aside immediately and work on it, because in the early stages it is often so fleeting that you lose it in no time. A novel doesn't overwhelm you in that way.


From an interview in Poëziekrant, September 1986





Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

MARCEL OBIAK

Poetry floats between philosophy and music.


From: Baal & Stuip, 7/8, 1965





Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl