Maurice Maeterlinck

Birth: 1862-08-29 , Gante

Death: 1949-05-06 , Nice

Maurice Maeterlinck was a Belgian poet, playwright, and essayist, a prominent figure of literary symbolism. His work is characterized by an atmosphere of mystery, lyricism, and reflection on the great themes of existence, such as life, death, love, and destiny. Known for his plays, such as 'The Blue Bird', Maeterlinck explored the subconscious and the ineffable, using symbols and allegories to convey his ideas. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, in recognition of his vast and influential contribution to world literature.

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Awards

1911

Nobel de Literatura

The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded annually to authors who have produced outstanding works in the field of literature, with an ideal geared towards humanity.

Poems List

And nowhere, surely, should we discover more painful and absolute sacrifice. . . . The queen bids farewell to freedom, the light of day. . . . The workers give five or six years of their life, and shall never know love, or the joys of maternity.

Wisdom requires no form; her beauty must vary, as varies the beauty of flame. She is no motionless goddess, for ever couched on her throne.

To be good we must needs have suffered; but perhaps it is necessary to have caused suffering before we can become better.

Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together, that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the daylight of Life, which they are henceforth to rule.

Most creatures have a vague belief that a very precarious hazard, a kind of transparent membrane, divides death from love; and that the profound idea of nature demands that the giver of life should die at the moment of giving.

It is far more important that one’s life should be perceived than that it should be transformed; for no sooner has it been perceived, than it transforms itself of its own accord.

Sacrifice may be a Bower that virtue will pluck on its road, but it was not to gather this Bower that virtue set forth on its travels.

To have known how to change the past into a few saddened smiles—is this not to master the future?

We are never the same with others as when we are alone; we are different, even, when we are in the dark with them.

Justice is the very last thing of all wherewith the universe concerns itself. It is equilibrium that absorbs its attention.

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Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck was born in 1862, in Ghent, Belgium. He studied law, but soon dedicated himself to literature, becoming one of the main representatives of symbolism. His early work, marked by the influence of Edgar Allan Poe and the ideas of Novalis, explored the dark side of existence and human fragility. His plays, such as 'The Princess Maleine' (1889), 'The Treasure of the Humble' (1896), and especially 'The Blue Bird' (1908), gained international recognition. In these works, Maeterlinck sought to portray the inner drama, the search for happiness, and transcendence, often through symbolic characters and ethereal settings. He also wrote poetry and essays on philosophy, nature, and the mystery of life. The Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in 1911, highlighted the originality and depth of his artistic vision. Maeterlinck passed away in 1949, leaving a legacy of work that continues to inspire through its sensitivity, mysticism, and reflection on the human condition.