Wopke de Jong: fan hege retoryk yn it Nederlânsk nei Nederlânske oersettingen fan klassiken en folksaardich Frysk

Abstract

Wopke de Jong (1799-1852) began his poetic career by writing poems in Dutch. In time, he joined the emerging Frisian literature of his time. As well as continuing to write highly rhetorical Dutch and Frisian poetry, he eventually turned to writing popular entertainment in Frisian. His rhetoric was based on a deep knowledge of the Bible and the classics. De Jong’s new orientation shows the strong position of the Frisian language at that time. Wopke Eekhoff had helped him along the way in 1832, and around 1845 de Jong took advantage of the rapidly growing opportunities for publishing in Frisian. He probably did not do so wholeheartedly, for in 1844 he had tried to found his own Dutch literary journal. Towards the end of his life he also began to write poetry in Latin.