Abstract
This chapter focuses on the comparison of Jacques Hamelink's poetry in Boheems glas (Bohemian Glass) and two poems by H. H. ter Balkt: 'De metro van Praag' ('The Prague Metro') and 'De lucht boven Praag in oktober of Het gezelschap in Esplanade' ('The sky above Prague in October, or The Company in Esplanade').
The poems are similar in being inspired by the Czech Republic, yet they differ in being linked to different historical moments and in the poets' different handling of the Czech motif. Hamelink's range is more comprehensive as he alludes to multiple facets of Czech history and typical geographical features, and also has an eye for the small suffering, for example during communism and shortly after the Velvet Revolution.
Hamelink also delves into Christian metaphysics and evokes classical mythology, which he intertwines with the Bohemian cultural references. Ter Balkt descends via the Prague underground into the mythological Styx.
He employs powerful images which thematise contemporary Czech realities, with references to the communist past less pronounced than in Hamelink. Hamelink's and Ter Balkt's Czech travel poems offer also an insight into their respective poetics and concepts of poetry.
The analysis of the two poet's texts will establish whether Prague and Bohemia are used as a background, an inspiration or a pretext to address universal themes.