Gezelle, Guido

Gezelle, Guido

(gē`dō khĕzĕl`ə), 1830–99, Flemish poet, b. Bruges, a Roman Catholic priest. A forerunner of the Flemish literary revival, he was the leading poet of the Flemings. In six volumes of lyrics, especially Rijmsnoer [necklace of rhymes] (1897), he combined a love of nature, a championing of the Flemish cause, and an intense feeling for religion. He wrote in the popular idiom of his region.

Bibliography

See English translation of some of his work by M. Swepstone (1937).

Gezelle, Guido

 

Born May 1, 1830, in Bruges; died there Nov. 27, 1899. Belgian poet, philologist, folklorist; member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Language and Literature. Wrote in the Flemish language.

Gezelle was a clergyman; he was dismissed from teaching in a theological seminary for spreading Flemish culture. He was author of the collections Graveyard Flowers (1858), Poetic Exercises (1858), and Little Poems (1860). He also wrote mystical hymns and poems on death and eternity, nature, and religion in the spirit of Christian romanticism (“Garland of Time,” 1893; “Row of Rhymes,” 1897).

WORKS

Volledige werken, vols. 1-18. Amsterdam, 1930-39.

REFERENCES

Walgrave, A. Het leven van Guido Gezelle, vols. 1-2. Amsterdam, 1923-24.
Duinkerken, A. van. Guido Gezelle’s kerkhofblommen 1858-1958. Amsterdam, 1958.
Busschere, K. de. Guido Gezelle, 2nd ed. Bruges, 1964.
Wouters, L. Guido Gezelle. [Paris, 1965.]