De voet in ’t graf

Bilderdijk's well-known lines of poetry date from 1809: ‘My, my, this is his punishment / And I reach for the grave.’ Hypochondriac as he was, he had assumed for years that his desire for death could be fulfilled at any moment. Some collections of poems already bear witness to this idea in their titles: Najaarsbladen (Autumn leaves, 1808), Winterbloemen (Winter flowers, 1811), Navonkeling (Afterglow, 1826), Avondschemering (Evening twilight, 1828), and even – as if he had already died – Nasprokkeling (Aftergathering, 1830).

The foot in the grave (1827) fits this list very well. The title engraving, drawn by Bilderdijk himself, speaks clearly. And the closing poem 'The deathbed' ends with lines of poetry in which Bilderdijk resignedly says to God: ‘Clamped by your hand, there are no dangers; / Dying is a dream, I wake up, and it's over.’

It would take another four years. Then, it was really over.