Cynthia Lenige

Cynthia Lenige on a drawing by her father Dirk Lenige around 1782

Cynthia Lenige , also Kynke Lenige (born November 6, 1755 in Makkum , Friesland , Republic of the Seven United Provinces ; † October 3, 1780 ibid) was a Frisian poet .

Live and act

Cynthia Lenige was born on November 6, 1755 as the daughter of the merchant, poet and otherwise artistically gifted Dirk Lenige (1722–1799) and Akke Rymersma (1724–1798) in the Frisian village of Makkum and grew up here alongside her sister and hers two brothers in a Dutch Mennonite family . Due to her long-standing health problems, she never went to school, but was taught at home. Her father initially took on this task before he was later supported by Teake Dooitzens, a teacher at the local school. While she was being taught to write Dutch , she was not taught Latin .

Lenige, who had never married her whole life, was an avid reader from childhood. Encouraged by her father, she began to write her own poems at a young age; mostly for special occasions such as birthdays, births or weddings. Later she wrote satirical poems throughout and belonged to the Makkum-based poets ' association Konst voedt' s Menschen geluk . Lenige had contacts with other Dutch poets, including Willem Bilderdi , who was about the same age and was said to have been in love with Lenige. Lenige herself was influenced by poets like Hubert Kornelisz in her works . Poot or Lucretia Wilhelmina van Merken .

She fell ill with dysentery at a young age , as a result of which she died about a month before her 25th birthday on October 3, 1780. Around two years after her death, her father published a drawing in her memory, which is also the only known portrait of the young poet today. In the same year the father published a collection of his daughter's works entitled Mengeldichten . Most of the works she knows today were written in Dutch; only a few works in West Frisian are known of her.

Honors

Today a street in her hometown bears the name Cynthia Lenigestraat in her honor .

At the southern end of the Doniakerk , the church of Makkum, a memorial stone in the form of a grave column was placed in her honor . Her father's tombstone, who was considered one of the first Frisian sonnet writers , was placed under the church organ .

Even after her death, her poems were discussed for decades; In the book series Keur van Nederlandsche Letteren , Lenige and her work in 1828 was devoted to a complete topic.

Web links

• Cynthia Lenige in the Biographical Portaal van Nederland (Dutch)
• Cynthia Lenige Nieuw Nederlandsch biographically woordenboek. Deel 4 (1918)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Poet Cynthia Lenige in miste kâns foar it Frysk (Dutch), accessed on November 8, 2018