Hendrik Marsman

Hendrik Marsman, Dutch poet and writer, born in Zeist, the Netherlands, September 30, 1899, died (drowned) when the ship he was on was torpedoed in the English Channel, July 21, 1940.

His poetry is vitalistic and expressionistic, and (fear of) death, as as a metaphor for defeat in life, is a recurring theme.

His most famous lines are (translated):

"Thinking about Holland, I see broad rivers moving slowly through endless lowlands"