BILDERDIJK, WILLEM (1756-1831), Dutch poet, was the son of an Amsterdam physician. His parents were ardent partisans of the house of Orange, and Bilderdijk grew up with strong monarchial and Calvinistic convictions. After studying law at Leyden university, he practised as an advocate at the Hague. He refused in 1i95 to take the oath to the new administration, and was consequently obliged to leave Holland. He went to Ham burg, and then to London, where his great learning procured him consideration. There he had as a pupil Katherina Wilhelmina Schweickhardt (1776-183o), the daughter of a Dutch painter and herself a poet. He married this lady in 1802. In i8o6 he re turned to Holland. He was kindly received by Louis Napoleon, who made him his librarian, and a member and eventually presi dent (I 809–I I) of the Royal Institute.
A picture of the Bilderdijk household is given in the letters (vol. v., 185o) of Robert Southey, who stayed some time with Bilderdijk in 1825. Madame Bilderdijk had translated Roderick into Dutch (1823-24). For his work as a poet see DUTCH LITERATURE. His many-sided activity showed itself also in his torical criticism—Geschiedenis des Vaderlands (1832-51), a con servative commentary on Wagenaar's Vaderlandsche Historie; in translations from the Greek and Latin classics, in philology, and in drama. His most important poetical works are the didac tic poem, De Ziekte der geleerden ("The Disease of the Learned"), 1807 ; a descriptive poem in the manner of Delille in Het Buitenleven (1803) ; and his fragmentary epic, De Onder gang der eerste wereld (182o).
His poetical works were collected by I. da Costa (Haarlem. 7856-5o) with a biography of the poet. See also "Mijne Levensbeschrijving" in Mengelingen en Fragmenten . . . (1834) ; his Brieven (ed. 1836-37) by I. da Costa and W. Messchert ; Dr. R. A. Kollewijn, Bilderdijk, Zijn Leven en werken . . . (1891) .