He made his début during the Second World War with the volume 'The year of remembrance' (1943). In classically moulded verse he described a modern sensibility by focusing on the dismay and helplessness of his generation. More than sixty years later, Van Herreweghen seems transformed into a thoroughgoing vitalist. These days he responds to mortality with light-hearted poems full of joie de vivre and linguistic invention.
On the website, Paul Vincent has translated a selection of poems taken from Van Herreweghen's earlier work as well as work from more recent years. Poetry critic Carl De Strycker portrays the evolution that can be detected in Van Herreweghens poetry from the turning point that the volume 'Earthenware' (1984) turned out to be.
Van Herrenweghen's poem 'Longing for winter' was selected as poem of the week.
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