Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Textual Note
- Introduction
- 1 Doris, or the Shepherd’s Complaint
- 2 To Anna R.[oemers]
- 3 [From] Batava Tempe: That Is the Lime-avenue of The Hague
- 4 The Exiled Shepherd: To the Lord Daniel Heinsius, Knight etc.
- 5 The Character of an Ambassador
- 6 Ship’s Talk, on the Death of Prince Maurits
- 7 To the Lady Tesselschade Crombalch with My Translations from the English Poems of Dr Donne
- 8 To Barlaeus
- 9 On the Death of Tesselschade’s Eldest Daughter, and on Her Husband Thereafter Bleeding to Death
- 10 The White Moon
- 11 The Mist Descending
- 12 The First Stone of the Marksmen’s School in The Hague, Laid by Prince William of Orange, on the Day of Public Prayer, 2 December 1636
- 13 To Stella, My Dearest Wife, Now Dead
- 14 [From] The Day’s Work: The Order of the House
- 15 In Her Snow-cold Arms
- 16 Prayer for the Holy Communion
- 17 The Lake
- 18 The Holy Communion
- 19 New Year
- 20 Good Friday
- 21 Pentecost
- 22 Christmas
- 23 Easter
- 24 To Tesselschade
- 25 On the Roses of the Most Eminent Painter, Daniel Seegers
- 26 To Tesselschade, Departing
- 27 To Albert Dürer on His Engraved Picture
- 28 On the Holy Communion
- 29 Again on the Holy Communion
- 30 [From] Hofwijk
- 31 Awakening
- 32 To the Lady Luchtenburgh, with My Poems Translated from the English of Donne
- 33 Again on Painting
- 34 On the Frontispiece of Korenbloemen
- 35 On the Grave of Jacob van Campen
- 36 The Vanity of Dreams
- 37 On an Engraved Glass
- 38 On My Birthday
- 39 Consolation of the Eyes, to the Lady of St Annaland
- 40 On the Holy Communion
- 41 Stillness and Snow after Storm and High Water
- 42 My Puppy’s Epitaph
- Appendix I A Selection of Huygens’ Poems in Modern European Languages
- Appendix II A Selection of Huygens’ Writings in English
- Appendix III Huygens and English Literature
- Appendix IV Additional Poems on Painting
- Bibliography
- Index of Titles and First Lines
- Amsterdam Studies in the Dutch Golden Age
1 - Doris, or the Shepherd’s Complaint
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 February 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Textual Note
- Introduction
- 1 Doris, or the Shepherd’s Complaint
- 2 To Anna R.[oemers]
- 3 [From] Batava Tempe: That Is the Lime-avenue of The Hague
- 4 The Exiled Shepherd: To the Lord Daniel Heinsius, Knight etc.
- 5 The Character of an Ambassador
- 6 Ship’s Talk, on the Death of Prince Maurits
- 7 To the Lady Tesselschade Crombalch with My Translations from the English Poems of Dr Donne
- 8 To Barlaeus
- 9 On the Death of Tesselschade’s Eldest Daughter, and on Her Husband Thereafter Bleeding to Death
- 10 The White Moon
- 11 The Mist Descending
- 12 The First Stone of the Marksmen’s School in The Hague, Laid by Prince William of Orange, on the Day of Public Prayer, 2 December 1636
- 13 To Stella, My Dearest Wife, Now Dead
- 14 [From] The Day’s Work: The Order of the House
- 15 In Her Snow-cold Arms
- 16 Prayer for the Holy Communion
- 17 The Lake
- 18 The Holy Communion
- 19 New Year
- 20 Good Friday
- 21 Pentecost
- 22 Christmas
- 23 Easter
- 24 To Tesselschade
- 25 On the Roses of the Most Eminent Painter, Daniel Seegers
- 26 To Tesselschade, Departing
- 27 To Albert Dürer on His Engraved Picture
- 28 On the Holy Communion
- 29 Again on the Holy Communion
- 30 [From] Hofwijk
- 31 Awakening
- 32 To the Lady Luchtenburgh, with My Poems Translated from the English of Donne
- 33 Again on Painting
- 34 On the Frontispiece of Korenbloemen
- 35 On the Grave of Jacob van Campen
- 36 The Vanity of Dreams
- 37 On an Engraved Glass
- 38 On My Birthday
- 39 Consolation of the Eyes, to the Lady of St Annaland
- 40 On the Holy Communion
- 41 Stillness and Snow after Storm and High Water
- 42 My Puppy’s Epitaph
- Appendix I A Selection of Huygens’ Poems in Modern European Languages
- Appendix II A Selection of Huygens’ Writings in English
- Appendix III Huygens and English Literature
- Appendix IV Additional Poems on Painting
- Bibliography
- Index of Titles and First Lines
- Amsterdam Studies in the Dutch Golden Age
Summary
The second year is past and over,
Twice now have you filled your measure,
Measurer of all our days,
East and west and south and northward,
Since I first heard Doris speaking,
Since the first time I her saw.
And still I have not forgotten,
Doris knows as well as I do,
How our friendship first began.
Friendship that has greatly pleased me,
Which has given as much pleasure,
As it gives me sorrow now.
I’d escaped the bustling city,
Fled beyond grass-bordered waters
Where unnumbered oak trees grow,
Ancients would have us believe that
Each was planted, each was set by
Lady Jacoba's own hand.
Solitude I went to seek there
In green darkness of the branches
(How you set my pulse a-race!)
Doris, masterpiece of nature,
Best-beloved of all our neighbours,
Doris came towards me there.
If I could say how the moonshine
In the vaulted depths of heaven
Other lights of stars outshines,
Then I might convey exactly
How then Doris her companions
Rivalled, and each one outbraved.
’Tgoet geselschap dat sy leyden,
Dat ick niet en socht te scheyden,
Maeckte dat ick stondt van cant,
Maer, O! onverwachte tyding!
Doris toonde wat verblyding,
Ende greep my by der handt.
Herder, sprack sy, Waer wilt henen?
Cont ghy U geselschap leenen
Aen des’ Nymphen desen dach?
Gheerne, o ghy Haeghgens eere,
Zeyd’-ick, maer hier isser meere
Daer ick 't niet by halen mach.
Halen? riep sy, ende lachte,
Och kindt! wist ghy myn gedachte,
Dat en seydt ghy nemmermeer.
Hier ontrent en zyn gheen menschen
Diers geselschap ick mach wenschen
U en achte ick noch veel meer.
Voorts zoo wil ick u wel sweeren
Als een Herderin’ met eeren
Datter dry zyn in getal
Die ick inde werelt achte,
Daer ick vruntscap van verwachte,
Maer U stell’ ick boven al.
Doen was 't mynen tydt om spreken,
Maer de flesch en can niet leken,
Die gevult is totten top,
Woorden die my meest gebraken
Conden uyt den mont niet raeken
Blyschap stopte my de crop.
Thinking not to interrupt the
Sweet society they joyed in,
Quietly I stood aside.
Unexpected turn of fortune!
On some joyful impulse, Doris
Came to me and took my hand.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Selection of the Poems of Sir Constantijn Huygens (1596–1687)Revised, Second Edition, pp. 46 - 59Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2015