TEN KATE, JAN JACOB LODEWIJK (1819-1889)

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TEN KATE, JAN JACOB LODEWIJK (1819-1889) , Dutch divine,

prose

PROSE

writer and poet, was born at The Hague on the 23rd of December 1819. He started in life as a lawyer's clerk. It was his friend, Dr Heldring, pastor at Hemmen, in Gelder-land, who, discovering in Ten Kate the germs of poetical genius, enabled him to study theology at the university of Utrecht (1838-43). Having completed his studies, Ten Kate became pastor at Middelburg,

Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM
AMSTERDAM (NEw AMSTERDAM)

, and other places, meanwhile developing well-nigh ceaseless activity, both in

prose

PROSE

and lyric poetry. Among his prose works may be mentioned the travel papers (Rhine, 1861; Italy, 185762), Christelijke Overdenkingen (" Thoughts of a Christian," 184952), and other religious studies. His early poetry was in the main

original

ORIGINAL

. The best known of his poems wereAhasuerus op de Grimsel (" Ahasuerus on the Grimsel," 1840) ; Zangen des Tijds (" Songs of the Times," 1841); Legenden en Mengelpoezie (" Legends and Detached Poems," 1846); In den Bloemhof (" In the Flower

Garden

GARDEN (from O. Fr. garden, mod. Fr. jardin; this, like our words " garth," a paddock attached to a building, and " yard," comes from a Teutonic word for an enclosure which appears in Gothic as gards and O. H. Ger. gart, cf. Dutch gaarde and Ger. .garten)

," 1851); De Schepping (" The Creation," 1866); De Planeten (" The Planets," 1869); De Jaargetijden (" The Seasons," 1871); De Psalmen (" The Psalms," 1874); De Vrouw in het Nederlandsch Lied (" Woman in Dutch Song," 1882); Palmtakken en Dichthloemen (" Palm-branches and

Flowers

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

of Poesy," 1884). Ten Kate reached the pinnacle of his poetic fame in The Creation, The Planets, and The Seasons. These poems certainly show a masterly grasp of his mother tongue and a wonderful facility of expression, coupled with graceful vigour and fertile fancy. These qualities he also plentifully displayed in the innumerable traabslations he made of many of the master-pieces of foreign poetry in nearly every European language. He had not only an extraordinary aptitude for learning

alien

ALIEN (Lat. alienus)

idioms, but also the

gift

GIFT (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. die Gift, gift, das Gift, poison, formed from the Teut.
stem
- STEM (O. Eng. staefn, stemn, cf. Du. stain, Ger. Stamm, &c., probably related to " staff ")
gab-, to give, cf. Dutch geven, Ger. geben; in O. Eng. the word appears with initial y, the guttural of later English is due to Scandinavian influence)

of translating foreign lyrics into clear, fluent and beautiful Dutch verse. Ten Kate's versatility in this respect has never been equalled; it extended from Tasso and Andersen to Dante, Schiller,

Victor

VICTOR
VICTOR, GAIUS
JULIUS
- JULIUS
(4th cent. A.D.)
VICTOR, SEXTUS AURELIUS

Hugo, Milton, Tennyson and Longfellow. Ten Kate died at

Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM
AMSTERDAM (NEw AMSTERDAM)

on the 24th of December 1889.
His complete Poetic Works were published after his death in 12 volumes (Leiden, 1891).

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