Totius (poet)
Totius | |
---|---|
Chancellor of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education | |
In office 1951–1953 | |
Preceded by | Office established |
Succeeded by | van Rooy, J.C. |
Personal details | |
Born | Jacob Daniel du Toit 21 February 1877 Vrije Universiteit |
Known for | Bible translation, Poet |
Jacob Daniël du Toit (21 February 1877 – 1 July 1953), better known by his pen name Totius, was an
He was the son of Stephanus Jacobus du Toit and Elisabeth Jacoba Joubert.
Life
The poet D.J. Opperman compiled brief biographical notes[1] in Afrikaans about Du Toit. Du Toit began his education at the Huguenot Memorial School at Daljosafat in the Cape (1883–1885). He then moved to a German mission school named Morgensonne near Rustenburg from 1888 to 1890 before returning, between 1890 and 1894, to his original school at Daljosafat. Later he attended a theological college at
After the war, he studied at the
Du Toit was a deeply religious man and a conservative one in most senses. His small son died of an infection and his young daughter, Wilhelmina, was killed by lightning, falling into his arms dead as she ran towards him. Du Toit recorded this calamity in the poem "O die pyn-gedagte" (literally "Oh the pain-thoughts").
Du Toit was responsible for much of the translation of the
He was on the committee that founded Potchefstroom Gimnasium[1] in 1907 and chancellor of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, from 1951-1953.[2]
Poetry
One of the poems from Skemering was translated by C.J.D Harvey[3] as follows:
- "Night at Sea – Near Aden"
- Nothing but sea and darkness everywhere
- as when the earth was desolate and void
- and o'er the world-pool hung night, unalloyed
- No star and no horizon visible,
- no sight or sign the wandering eye to guide,
- I hear only the waves beating the side.
- Though she sails always on, she now sails blind,
- the prow thrusts forward, cleaving through the night.
- Only upon the compass, shafts of light.[4]
Another poem, from Passieblomme, translated by J.W. Marchant:
- "The World is not our Dwelling Place"
- The world is not our dwelling place
- I see this in the sun that flees
- and see it in the heron that, mistrustfully,
- the same sun sees
- on one leg from the reedy dale
- and once the final rays are gone
- a chill spills from this queachy lea
- a frigid thrill runs right through me
- I see it then in everything
- that dusk throws round me in a ring
- the world is not our dwelling place
- The world is not our dwelling place
- I see it when the moon blood red
- rising from its field-dust bed
- still (only just) the church-roof pares
- from where an owl, abstrusely dumb,
- sits and at that crescent stares.
- As it grows quiet down the way
- I recollect how, late today,
- the mourners of the afternoon
- emerged where owl now meets the moon
- I mark it then in everything
- while even tightens in a ring
- the world is not our dwelling place
- The world is not our dwelling place
- I feel it when the winds awake
- and oaken branches clash and break
- I hear it in the fluttering
- of little birds whose wings are thrown
- against the branches smashed and blown
- and find on coming closer yet
- by moonbeam's vacillating light
- a nest of fledglings overset
- hurled down by tempest, shattered, dead
- and feel it then in everything
- as nighttime closes in a ring
- the world is not our dwelling place
Honors and recognition
Du Toit (under the name Totius) appeared on a South African postage stamp in 1977.[3]
In 1977, a statue of Totius by the sculptor Jo Roos was placed in the Totius Garden of Remembrance, in Potchefstroom. The statue was restored by Roos in 2009, and moved to the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University.[4] It was removed in 2015 at the request of the Reformed Churches of South Africa (RCSA), after consultation with the Du Toit family, with the intention of instead displaying it on RCSA property.The request came after a group called ReformPUK didn't want the statue on the grounds of the university because they see him as a figure of apartheid.[5]
References
- ^ (1) Opperman, D.J. Undated; probably 1962. Senior Verseboek. Nationale Boekhandel Bpk, Kaapstad. Negende Druk, 185pp. Translation for Wikipedia by J.W. Marchant 2005.
- ^ (2) Schirmer, P. 1980. The concise illustrated South African Encyclopaedia. Central News Agency, Johannesburg. First edition, about 211pp.
- ^ (3) AP Grove and CJD Harvey. Afrikaans Poems with English Translations. Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 1969.
Notes
- ^ Book: Fac et Spera 1907-1957,page 26,author:Coetsee,J.J.A
- ^ "(Afrikaans)Beleid en bestuur(translated: Policy and management)". nwu.ac.za. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
- ^ "Image & prices". Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ "Announcement about statue". Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ "Afrikaans poet's statue moved from NWU's Potch campus". Archived from the original on 21 February 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2019.