Emile VERHAEREN (1855-1916)

Draft notes for a presentation to the Annales [the Université des Annales], together with four lines of verse on a separate sheet, which appear to be have been written for the occasion.
2 pages small 4to and half page 8vo in French on sheets taken from notebooks, n.p., n.d. [but probably 1914-16].                            
On the recto of the first sheet, Verhaeren has written [trans:] “This is the thirteenth time that in this pathetique milieu of the Annales, where the admirable Madame Brisson gives of her intelligence and her devotion to letters as well as to the nation, I wish to speak of my unhappy, but proud and determined country.”
On the verso, two lines have been crossed out, and the corrected text below reads [trans:] “One is the Belgium of the North, the other the Belgium of the South. The latter has as its river the Yser and for its capital La Panne. I have visited many times and I have brought back from thence the poem which I will read to you.”
The accompanying sheet has only four lines, and may well be a draft of the work written for this occasion, beginning “Et quelquefois par les canau{x] anciens” and ending with the line “D’un port abandonné des grands navires”.
Verhaeren, generally considered as a member of the Symbolist movement, had an emotional sensibility in his poems. Although Flemish – and very attached to his native land – he wrote his works in French as was the custom in that time. His mention in his address of his “unhappy, but proud and determined country” makes it likely that this was written after the outbreak of the First World War which ravaged his homeland. Verhaeren himself was a committed pacifist and the war caused him great distress. 
Madame Brisson, described by Verhaeren as “admirable” was the founder and guiding force behind the series of free conferences which she named the Université des Annales, which began in 1907, focussing on matters literary and political. During the First World War she also turned her attention to helping children who had been affected by the conflict, founding a number of refuges for them.
Both sheets show signs of having been torn down to size, the first from a notebook, the second detached from its blank leaf, as the blank verso has the letterhead of L’Art Moderne in Brussels. The page with the verse has some light foxing, but remains in clear condition. A previous collector has noted the name of Verhaeren at the top of each sheet in pencil.

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