Sorrow and loss in occasional poems

Sometimes poems provide us with incredible details. See for instance our occasional poem on the death of Harriot Sowden, 3 years old. On the moment of her death her mother was 8 months a widow, she was hit by a luggage cart broken loose at the flower market. Jacob Gotts managed to save two children but had to watch Harriot get under the wheel, which broke head and neck and throat while cracking.

All written down, set to rhyme by doctor Phoebus Hitzerus Themmen.Themmen (1757-1830) was the first with ” koepokinentingen”  in Amsterdam. He vaccinates children of the poor for free. Apart from being a medicinal doctor he was also a poet.

Please click here for our stock on Themmen.

#verdriet, #gelegenheidsgedichten, #occasionalpoem, #achttiendeeeuw, #eighteenthcentury