344:, which she sent to him personally in October 1783, is all the more remarkable. The ode, which hails Washington as the defender of his people's freedom (apparently Van Merken despised the British), contained twenty four-line stanzas. Van Merken waited in vain for an answer, and half a year later, in April 1784, she sent it again, this time accompanied by a letter in French written by her husband. Washington knew little or no French, so he would have had to read both the letter and poem in translated form; two years later a letter from
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Van Merken married on 26 September 1768 in
Amsterdam, to Nicolaas Simon van Winter (1718–1795), a poet and paint merchant. Van Winter was a widower; his first wife, Johanna Mühl (1718–1768), had been a friend of van Merken's. The couple never had children. Van Winter proposed marriage in verse, and
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van Merken responded in kind. Shortly after the marriage, van Winter handed over his paint trade to his only son Pieter, and the couple moved to Leiden, maintaining their friendships in
Amsterdam via intense correspondence. They spent summers on their estate near Bijdorp, near
244:, where her husband was later buried as well. A plaque for the couple was placed in the Oude Kerk in 1828 by a Leiden society, to the right of the organ. A monument designed by another Leiden group was designed but never built.
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Van Merken represented the 18th-century
Enlightenment ideal of an educated, civilized citizen, and for a long time was a model for budding poets. Romanticism ended the popularity of her work, and later attempts by
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In the 1750s van Merken lost her entire family: her father (1754), her mother (1759), and her younger sister
Wilhelmina (1760). Her own health was also frail, and in the 1760s she was preparing for death.
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When a group of poets joined around 1760 to form a society, "Laus Deo, Salus Populo" ('Honor to God, blessings for the people'), in order to update the archaic rhymed translation of the Psalms by
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291:, van Merken's future husband was one of them. She joined the group, and when in 1773 the official new version of the Psalms were published, 17 of those were hers, including
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Lucretia van Merken was born to fur trader Jacob van Merken (1691–1754) and
Susanna Wilhelmina Brandt (1687–1759), a granddaughter of historian and poet
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was published in 1745 by Izaak Duim in
Amsterdam. In a period of grief she wrote about the comfort she derived from her faith in her didactic poem
643:
De ontwikkelingsgang der
Nederlandsche letterkunde V, Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche letterkunde van de Republiek der Vereenigde Nederlanden (3)
205:. From a young age she was interested in poetry, supported by her mother and by poet Frans de Haes, an older cousin. Her literary examples were
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Van Merken's predilection for serious subject matter and lofty genre writing is evidenced by her tragedies, but also by two expansive epics:
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Met en zonder lauwerkrans. Schrijvende vrouwen uit de vroegmoderne tijd 1550–1850: van Anna Bijns tot Elisa van Calcar
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Her classicist tragedies were regularly performed in all the major Dutch cities; on 14 September 1774 the new
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In 1774, van Merken and her husband were named honorary citizens of Leiden, likely influenced by her tragedy
169:(21 August 1721 – 19 October 1789) was a Dutch poet and playwright. Born in Amsterdam, she began writing
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in style and proved to be popular, being performed all over the country. She wrote an ode in French for
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Meijer Drees, M. (1997). "Lucretia
Wilhelmina van Merken". In Schenkeveld-van der Dussen, Riet (ed.).
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201:(1626–1685). She grew up in Amsterdam on the corner of Keizersgracht and Herenstraat, in a family of
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arrived, with two accompanying letters in
English from Washington thanking the couple for the gift.
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Because van Merken rarely commented on contemporary events outside of her occasional poems, her
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After moving to Leiden, van Winter and van Merken jointly published their plays in two volumes,
363:, published in 1792 along with some letters in rhyme and a few occasional poems, is similar to
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a contemplation on life, on the inevitability of sorrow, and the comfort offered by religion.
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called her "the greatest poetess of our country". She died in Leiden, but was buried in the
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8:
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Kalliope in de
Nederlanden. Het Renaissancistisch-klassicistische epos van 1550 tot 1850
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Meijer Drees, p. 572 (quote from a letter of Wolff's to Van Merken, 2 Januari 1777)
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and in her early twenties had published her first tragedy. Influenced by the
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646:(in Dutch) (2 ed.). Haarlem: Héritiers F. Bohn. pp. 391–408.
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236:. By that time her reputation as a poet was already established;
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185:, and sent it to him, and for the revised Dutch version of the
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Lucretia Wilhelmina van Merken / Amsterdam 1721 – Leiden 1789
660:(in Dutch). Haarlem: J. J. van Brederode. pp. 637–641.
635:(in Dutch). Assen: Van Gorcum & Comp. pp. 599–620.
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612:"Lucretia Wilhelmina van Merken en George Washington"
689:(in Dutch). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
268:, for instance for David van Mollem, owner of the
617:Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde
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264:In her younger years, van Merken mostly wrote
749:18th-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights
491:"Merken, Lucretia Wilhelmina van (1721–1789)"
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256:(1909) to reappraise her were unsuccessful.
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495:Digital Women's Lexicon of the Netherlands
359:(in sixteen books, 1779). Her final work,
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189:she provided seventeen of the psalms.
671:Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland
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489:van Logchem, Elly (13 January 2014).
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665:van Lochem, Elly (13 January 2014).
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667:"Merken, Lucretia Wilhelmina van"
325:in Amsterdam was opened with the
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754:18th-century Dutch women writers
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232:(1774), which commemorates the
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167:Lucretia Wilhelmina van Merken
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355:(in twelve books, 1767) and
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652:van der Aa, Abraham Jacob
365:Het nut der tegenspoeden,
230:Het beleg der stad Leyden
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76:, Holland, Dutch Republic
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282:Het nut der tegenspoeden
274:Gerard Aarnout Hasselaar
114:Het nut der tegenspoeden
769:People from Zoeterwoude
640:te Winkel, Jan (1924).
610:Howeler, H. A. (1933).
416:. Meijer Drees, p. 572.
361:De ware geluksbedeeling
331:Jacob Simonszoon de Ryk
144:De ware geluksbedeeling
129:Jacob Simonszoon de Ryk
759:Writers from Amsterdam
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177:, her tragedies were
124:Beleg der stad Leyden
242:Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
211:Joost van den Vondel
22:Lucretia van Merken
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779:Dutch women poets
538:van der Aa, p.639
508:te Winkel. p.392
444:van der Aa, p.638
414:van der Aa, p.637
342:George Washington
309:Frontispiece for
266:occasional poetry
183:George Washington
171:occasional poetry
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674:. Retrieved
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69:(1789-10-19)
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744:Dutch poets
734:1789 deaths
729:1721 births
549:Smit, p.603
520:Smit, p.602
397:van Logchem
252:(1852) and
238:Betje Wolff
223:Zoeterwoude
136:(1774–1786)
723:Categories
711:(in Dutch)
371:References
357:Germanicus
270:Zijdebalen
179:classicist
139:Germanicus
81:Occupation
43:1721-08-21
676:8 October
278:Artemines
193:Biography
109:Artemines
92:1745–1789
50:Amsterdam
654:(1869).
624:: 70–77.
327:premiere
293:Psalm 42
158:dbnl.org
151:Website
54:Holland
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131:(1774)
126:(1774)
121:(1768)
116:(1762)
111:(1745)
89:Period
84:Writer
74:Leiden
353:David
119:David
97:Genre
691:ISBN
678:2018
64:Died
37:Born
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