Abstract:
The sonnet series, “Drie keiserportrette” (Three imperial portraits), from N.P. van Wyk Louw’s
fifth volume of poetry, Nuwe verse (1954), illustrates both his interest in Roman history and in
eras of historical transition. This article focuses on the historical facts relevant to the third century
Roman emperors Aurelian, Diocletian and Galerian that Louw provided in the explanatory notes
accompanying the first publication of the three sonnets and the way the historical material is adapted in
the poems. It is contended that the sombre, pessimistic view of the transition to Christianity ascribed to
the Roman emperors reflects a particular notion of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire that was
dominant at the time of first publication. Louw also reflects on other facets of the pre-Christian or the
not yet Christian in Nuwe verse, but an unambiguous “development” or transition to Christianity
cannot be deduced.
