Constantijn Huygens


Huygens, Constantijn

 

Born Sept. 4, 1596, in The Hague; died there Mar. 26, 1687. Dutch poet.

Huygens graduated from the University of Leiden in 1617. He held a number of important posts in the government. Huygens’ lyric narrative poems—for example, “Everyday Labor”—are didactic and philosophic in nature. In the epigrams and poems of the collection Cornflowers (1658) he mocked religious fanaticism and court life. Huygens’ other works include several comedies (Trintje Cornells).

REFERENCE

Bachrach, A. G. H. Sir Constantijn Huygens and the Art of 17th-century England and Holland. 1953.