GUEZELLE, Guido. - Flemish poet and priest, b. at Bruges on 1 May 1830, d. there on 27 Nov. 1899. He is one of the greatest lyric poets of the 19th century. Of modest origin, the son of a gardener, he loved the people, whom he sought to make happier by turning their gaze to the beauty of created things. As an educator (he taught in a seminary), G. strove to form characters.
Because of his temperament, he was forced to leave the seminary, and this brought on for him a very painful crisis, which is reflected in his work. Later, after the death of a convent of nuns at Courtrai, he spent a very happy period there. A folklorist, then twice an editor, translator of Longfellow, he decisively surpassed his own folklorism and became the greatest Flemish poet. He wrote neither in official Dutch nor in Flemish dialect, but attempted to give to the Netherlandic language, already common to both Dutch and Flemings, a personal note, a vigorous local colour, drawing on the linguistic richness of his province (in this respect he had a disciple in his nephew, the great prose writer Stijn Streuvels).
G.’s poetry is characterized by a close fusion of religious feeling with love of his native land. Among his works to be remembered are the collections Tijdkrans (Crown of Time), Rijmsnoer om en om het jaar (A Garland of Rhymes Round the Year) and Laatste Verzen (Last Verses). As a lyric poet he soon won recognition in Flemish and Dutch lands, even among circles ideologically opposed to him. His monument is the Musée G. in his native city.