Daniel Heinsius - Latin Poetry

Latin Poetry

Heinsius first drew attention to himself as a Latin poet with his Senecan tragedy Auriacus, sive libertas saucia (‘William of Orange, or Freedom Wounded’). In 1607/08 he wrote another tragedy, Herodes infanticida (‘The Massacre of the Innocents’), which was published only in 1632. He was, however, especially prolific in writing elegies, of which a large part was dedicated to his love for a girl called Rossa. A first collection appeared in 1603. Ever larger and revised collections of his Poemata, also containing other genres, saw the light regularly.