Maeterlinck, Maurice

Maurice Maeterlinck was a playwright, poet and essayist born in Ghent, Belgium. His father was a successful lawyer and Maeterlinck was destined to follow in his father's footsteps. In his youth, he made attempts at writing while he was studying law. He graduated from the University of Gent in 1885, and during a visit to Paris the following year he came into contact with influential literary critics and symbolist poets. He published his firs poetry collection and his first play three years later. Both were an immediate success. Before he made himself a name as a playwright he had some success in Belgium with Hothouses (1889, Serres chaudes) a collection of thirty-three poems that was published in a limited edition of 155, but was later best known as a playwright.