Your American History Reference Guide!
- Johannes Secundus

HistoryMania Information Site on Johannes Secundus American History American History Search        American History Browse welcome to our free resource site for all enthusiasts!

Johannes Secundus

Johannes Secundus (also Janus Secundus) (15 November, 151125 September, 1536) was a Neo-Latin poet of Dutch nationality.

Born Jan Everaerts in The Hague. His father, Nicolaes Everaerts was a famous jurist and friend of Erasmus.

In 1528 his family moved to Mechlin, where Secundus wrote his first book of elegies. In 1532 he went to Bourges with his brother Marius to study law under Alciati . He obtained his licentia , and in 1533 he went to join his other brother Grudius at the Spanish court of Charles V. There he spent two years working as secretary to the Archbishop of Toledo. He returned to Mechlin because of illness, and died at Saint-Amand in September 1536 at the age of twenty-four.

Secundus was a prolific writer, and in his short life he produced several books of elegies, epigrams, odes, verse epistles and epithalamia, as well as many prose writings.

His most famous work, though, was the 'Basia', a short collection consisting of nineteen poems in various metres, in which the poet explores the theme of the kiss. The 'Basia' are really extended imitations of Catullus (in particular poems 5 and 7); Secundus situates his poetry, stylistically as well as thematically, firmly with the Neo-Catullan tradition. Variations on the central theme include: imagery of natural fertility; the 'arithmetic' of kissing; kisses as nourishment or cure; kisses that wound or bring death; and the exchange of souls through kissing. Secundus also introduces elements of Neo-Platonism and Petrarchism into his poems.

The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the
GNU Free Documentation License. How to see transparent copy
Search | Browse | Contact | Legal info