Jan Frederik Helmers (March 7, 1767 – February 26, 1813), was a Dutch poet born in Amsterdam.
Works edit
His early poems, Night (1788) and Socrates (1790), were tame and sentimental, but after 1805 he determined, in company with his brother-in-law, Cornelis Loots (1765–1834), to rouse national feeling by a burst of patriotic poetry.[1]
His Poems (2 vols, 1809–1810), but especially his great work The Dutch Nation, a poem in six cantos (1812), created great enthusiasm and enjoyed immense success.[1] Even the published censored version was contentious enough that only his premature death prevented an arrest by the French occupation.[2] He owed his success mainly to the integrity of his patriotism and the opportune moment at which he sounded his counter-blast to the French oppression. His posthumous poems were collected in 1815.[1]
A neighbourhood in Amsterdam is named Helmersbuurt in his honour, built 1891–1902, with not less than three streets called after Helmers: the Eerste, Tweede and Derde Helmersstraat (First, Second and Third Helmers Street in English).
References edit
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1911.
- ^ G.J. van Bork en P.J. Verkruijsse Helmers, Jan Frederik, in De Nederlandse en Vlaamse auteurs van middeleeuwen tot heden met inbegrip van de Friese auteurs., De Haan, Weesp, 1985
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Helmers, Jan Frederik". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 246.
