It is well-known that the seventeenth century was a Golden Age for fine art in the Low Countries. However, it is less well-known that the region also produced a number of fine poets during this
period. One of these was Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687). Huygens was a politician, diplomat, accomplished musician and author of many poems. In this book, we see Huygens the life-long
Calvinist reflecting in epigrams, sonnets and longer poems on the significance of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. In verses replete with wit and invention, he shows a constant awareness of
his own sinfulness, but also of divine grace. He recognizes the importance of the Lord's Supper in recalling the events of Christ's Passion, yet also captures something of the mystical
dimension of the sacrament, found elsewhere in the Reformed tradition, in which the soul of the believer is drawn up to heaven and united with the flesh and blood of the risen and ascended
Christ. This book provides the reader for the first time with translations into English of Huygens' poems on the Lord's Supper and will allow them to draw comparisons with the poetry of English
contemporaries such as George Herbert and John Donne.
