I.D. du Plessis (1900-1981)

Abstract

A short biography of this well-known and versatile author is followed by a discussion of a few aspects of his poetry, with his earliest poems as starting-point. It is pointed out that certain facets continually appear in his oeuvre: poems dealing with the East as well as the West, humour with satire as aim and the use of certain poetic forms like the sonnet. The uneven quality of his poetic contribution and certain specific defects are pointed out. Instead of giving yet another review of his work, some of his most successful poems (among others "Kelkiewyn" and "Et praeterea nihil") are analysed to demonstrate that one would not like to miss them in Afrikaans literature.