‘A Living Idea in Time'. The Work of Maurice Gilliams

When asked in an interview: ‘You are a poet, a writer of prose, and an essayist, which one are you the most of, which one would you rather be, or which one are you really?' Maurice Gilliams (1900-1982) replied with a quote from a study he himself had written on the work of the Flemish symbolist poet Karel van de Woestijne: ‘I do not wish to make a distinction, nor would I be able to, between his totally artistic and his totally human content – even though the poet may, in his outward appearance and behaviour, not awaken the same illusion in us that is awakened by his work' (with four translated poems and an extract from ‘Elias, or The Struggle with the Nightingales' by Maurice Gilliams)