Who was Émile Verhaeren?

Émile Verhaeren

   Émile Verhaeren was a Belgian poet and dramatist, born in East Flanders in 1855. His work is considered to rank with that of Maeterlinck and is largely of the natural style set in a Flemish background. He wrote in French but many of his works have been translated. Toute la Flandre, a five-volume publication, was the most outstanding of his early efforts while Les Soirs, Les Débacles, and Les Flambeaux noirs were written during and after his travels in western Europe. This period of his life, characterized by un-rest and meditation, is reflected in the latter writings. He also wrote Les Campagnes hallucinées, Les Villes tentaculaires, and Les Villages illusoires, describing the social problems of urban life, and a trilogy of love poems, Les Heures claires, Les Heures de l'après-midi, and Les Heures du soir. Among his plays are Les'Aubes and Le Cloítre. Before his death in 1916 he wrote La Belgique sanglante (Belgium in Agony), a story of the World War.