“Drie Keiserportrette” en die Romeinse geskiedenis in Nuwe verse van N.P. Van Wyk Louw

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.