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French poetry is a category of French literature. This article is a general introduction to French literature For detailed information on French literature in specific historic periods see the separate historical articles in the French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Medieval French literature is for the purpose of this article Literature written in Oïl languages (particularly Old French and early Middle For more information on historical developments in this period see Renaissance, History of France, and Early Modern France. French literature of the 17th century &mdashthe so-called Grand Siècle &mdashspans the reigns of Henry IV of France, the Regency of Marie de Medici French literature of the 18th century usually refers to the literature written between 1715, the year of the death of King Louis XIV of France, and 1798 the year French literature of the nineteenth century is for the purpose of this article literature written in French from (roughly 1799 to 1900 French literature of the twentieth century is for the purpose of this article literature written in French from (roughly 1895 to 1990 Contemporary French literature is French literature roughly from the 1990s to Today. Francophone literature is Literature written in the French language. This is an article about Literature in Quebec. 16th and 17th centuries During this period the society of New France was being Post-colonial literature (or "Postcolonial literature" sometimes called "New English literature(s" is a body of literary writings that reacts to the discourse The Culture of Haiti encompasses a variety of Haitian traditions from native Taino customs to practices imported during French colonisation and Spanish Chronological list of French language authors (regardless of nationality by date of birth French science fiction is a substantial genre within French literature. Franco-Belgian comics are Comics that are created in Belgium and France. The Fantastique is a French term for a literary and cinematic genre that overlaps with Science fiction, horror and Fantasy Naturalism is a movement in Theatre, film, and Literature that seeks to replicate a believable everyday reality, as opposed to such Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century Art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members Existentialism is a philosophical doctrine which posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives and that this essence follows from their existence The nouveau roman ( French: "new novel" is a type of 1950s French Novel that diverged from classical literary genres The Theatre of the Absurd ( French: Théâtre de l'Absurde) is a designation for particular plays written by a number of primarily European Playwrights Literary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of Literature and of the methods for analyzing literature Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also known by his Stage name, Molière, ( January 15, 1622 – February 17 1673) was a French Jean Racine ( ( December 22, 1639 &ndash April 21, 1699) was a French Dramatist, one of the "big three" of Henri-Marie Beyle ( January 23, 1783 &ndash March 23, 1842) better known by his Pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century Gustave Flaubert (gystaːv flobɛːʁ in French ( December 12, 1821 &ndash May 8, 1880) was a French writer who is counted among Émile François Zola ( (2 April 1840 &ndash 29 September 1902 was an influential French Writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (maʁsɛl pʁust (10 July 1871 &ndash 18 November 1922 was a French Novelist Essayist and Critic Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989 was an Irish Writer, Dramatist and poet Albert Camus ( (7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960 was an Algerian born French Author, philosopher, and journalist who won the Nobel prize This article is a general introduction to French literature For detailed information on French literature in specific historic periods see the separate historical articles in the It may include Francophone poetry composed outside France and poetry written in other languages of France. Francophone literature is Literature written in the French language. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. There are a number of languages of France. The French language is by far the most widely spoken and the only Official language of France, but several

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French prosody and poetics

The modern French language does not have a significant stress accent (like English) or long and short syllables (like Latin). French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people In Linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain Syllables in a word In Linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In Linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. This means that the French metric line is generally not determined by the number of beats, but by the number of syllables (see syllabic verse; in the Renaissance, there was a brief attempt to develop a French poetics based on long and short syllables [see "musique mesurée"]). Syllabic verse is a Poetic form having a fixed number of Syllables per Line Musique mesurée, or Musique mesurée à l'antique, was a style of vocal musical composition in France in the late 16th century. The most common metric lengths are the ten-syllable line ("décasyllabe"), the eight-syllable line ("octosyllabe") and the twelve-syllable line (the so-called "alexandrin"). An alexandrine is a line of poetic meter comprising 12 Syllables Alexandrines are common in the German literature of the Baroque period and

In traditional French poetry, all permissible liaisons are made between words. In French, most written word-final Consonants are silent in most contexts Furthermore, unlike modern spoken French (at least in the north of France), a silent or mute 'e' counts as a syllable before a consonant and is pronounced, but is elided before a vowel (where "h aspiré" counts as a consonant). Elision is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a Vowel, a Consonant, or a whole Syllable) in a word or phrase producing a result that is easier When it falls at the end of a line, the mute "e" is hypermetrical (outside the count of syllables). (For more on pronunciation of French, see French phonology). See also French language This article mainly discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the Parisian dialect

The ten-syllable and 12-syllable lines are generally marked by a regular syntactical pause, called a "césure" (cesura):

In traditional poetry, the césure cannot occur between two words that are syntactically linked (such as a subject and its verb), nor can it occur after an unelided mute e. (For more on poetic meter, see Poetic meter. In Poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. )

For example:

Je fais souvent ce rêve étrange et pénétrant
d'une femme inconnue et que j'aime et qui m'aime. . .

(Paul Verlaine, "Mon rêve familier", from Poèmes saturniens)

The verses are alexandrines (12 syllables). Paul-Marie Verlaine (vɛʁˈlɛn March 30, 1844 &ndash January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist The mute e in "d'une" is pronounced and is counted in the syllables (whereas the mute e's at the end of "rêve", "étrange", "femme" and "j'aime" -- which are followed by vowels -- are elided and hypermetrical); the mute e at the end of "qui m'aime" is hypermetrical (this is a so-called "feminine rhyme"). A feminine rhyme is a Rhyme that matches two or more syllables usually at the end of respective lines No word occurs across the sixth to seventh syllable in both lines, thus creating the cesura.

The rules of classical French poetry (from the late 16th to the 18th century) also put forward the following:

For more on rhymes in French poetry, see Rhyme in French. This article is about the poetic technique For the form of ice see Rime ice.

Poetic forms developed by medieval French poets include:

Other poetic forms found in French poetry:

History of French poetry

Medieval

Main article: Medieval French literature

As is the case in other literary traditions, poetry is the earliest French literature; the development of prose as a literary form was a late phenomenon (in the late Middle Ages, many of the romances and epics initially written in verse were converted into prose versions). The ballade (bəˈlɑːd not to be confused with the Ballad) is a verse form typically consisting of three eight-line Stanzas each with a consistent This article is about the poetry form For other uses see Rondeau. A lai was a song form composed in northern Europe, mainly France and Germany, from the 13th to the late 14th century. A virelai is a form of Medieval French verse used often in Poetry and Music. The pastourelle is a typically Old French lyric form concerning the romance of a shepherdess A chanson ( French for " Song " from Latin cantio) is in general any lyric -driven French songs usually Polyphonic The chant royal is a poetic form that consists of five eleven-line Stanzas with a Rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d-e-d-E and a five-line Envoi rhyming The alba ("sunrise" is a Subgenre of Occitan Lyric poetry. Jeu parti [[Provençal] joc partit “ Partimen ”] A debate or dialogue in the form of a poem A villanelle is a poetic form which entered English-language poetry in the 1800s from the imitation of French models The virelai nouveau is a poetic form that is both rare and difficult to use The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in Lyric poetry from Europe. Ode (from the Ancient Greek) is a form of stately and elaborate lyrical verse. Medieval French literature is for the purpose of this article Literature written in Oïl languages (particularly Old French and early Middle For the Wikipedia guideline regarding editing articles see WikipediaManual of Style. An epic is a lengthy Narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation In the medieval period, the choice of verse form was generally dictated by the genre: the Old French epics ("chanson de geste", like the anonymous Song of Roland, regarded by some as the national epic of France) were usually written in ten-syllable assonanced "laisses" (blocks of varying length of assonanced lines), while the chivalric romances ("roman", such as the tales of King Arthur written by Chrétien de Troyes) were usually written in octosyllabic rhymed couplets. The chansons de geste, Old French for "songs of Heroic deeds lineages" are the epic poems that appear at the dawn of French literature The Song of Roland (La Chanson de Roland is the oldest remaining major work of French literature. A national epic is an epic poem or similar work which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular Nation; not necessarily a Assonance is repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within Phrases or Sentences, and together with Alliteration As a Literary genre of High culture, romance or chivalric romance refers to a style of heroic Prose and verse Narrative King Arthur is a legendary British leader who according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against the Saxon invaders Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and Trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. A couplet is a pair of lines of verse. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter

Medieval French lyric poetry was indebted to the poetic and cultural traditions in Southern France and Provence -- including Toulouse, Poitiers, and the Aquitaine region -- where "langue d'oc" was spoken (Occitan language); in their turn, the Provençal poets were greatly influenced by poetic traditions from the Hispano-Arab world. Provence ( Provençal Occitan: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm is a region of southeastern France Toulouse ( pronounced in standard French, and in the local accent ( Occitan: Tolosa, pronounced) is a city in southwest Poitiers is a town on the Clain River in west central France. Aquitaine (Aquitània Akitania archaic Guyenne / Guienne (Occitan Guiana) is one of the 26 Regions of France, in the south-western part of Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan Arabic literature ( Arabic: الأدب العربي Al-Adab Al-Arabi) is the writing produced both Prose and Poetry, by speakers The Occitan or Provençal poets were called troubadours, from the word "trobar" (to find, to invent). A troubadour ( IPA:, originally) was a composer and performer of Occitan Lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100&ndash1350 Lyric poets in Old French are called "trouvères", using the Old French version of the word (for more information on the "trouvères", their poetic forms, extant works and their social status, see the article of that name). Trouvère ( MWCD: /trü'ver trü'vər/ sometimes spelled trouveur, is the Northern French ( Langue d'oïl) form of the word Troubadour The occitan troubadours were amazingly creative in the development of verse forms and poetic genres, but their greatest impact on medieval literature was perhaps in their elaboration of complex code of love and service called "fin amors" or, more generally, courtly love. Courtly love was a Medieval European conception of ennobling love which found its genesis in the ducal and princely courts of Aquitaine, Provence For more information on the troubadour tradition, see Provençal literature. Occitan literature — still sometimes called Provençal literature — is a body of texts written in Occitan in what is nowadays the South of France

By the late 13th century, the poetic tradition in France had begun to develop in ways that differed significantly from the troubadour poets, both in content and in the use of certain fixed forms. The new poetic (as well as musical: some of the earliest medieval music has lyrics composed in Old French by the earliest composers known by name) tendencies are apparent in the Roman de Fauvel in 1310 and 1314, a satire on abuses in the medieval church filled with medieval motets, lais, rondeaux and other new secular forms of poetry and music (mostly anonymous, but with several pieces by Philippe de Vitry who would coin the expression Ars nova [new art, or new technique] to distinguish the new musical practice from the music of the immediately preceding age). The Roman de Fauvel, translated as The Story of the Fawn-Colored Beast, is a 14th century French poem accredited to French royal clerk Gervais A lai was a song form composed in northern Europe, mainly France and Germany, from the 13th to the late 14th century. Philippe de Vitry ( October 31, 1291 &ndash June 9, 1361) was a French Composer, music theorist and Poet Ars nova was a stylistic period in Music of the Late Middle Ages, centered in France, which encompassed the period roughly from the preparation The most well-known poet and composer of ars nova secular music and chansons was Guillaume de Machaut. A chanson ( French for " Song " from Latin cantio) is in general any lyric -driven French songs usually Polyphonic Guillaume de Machaut, sometimes spelled Machault (c 1300 – April 1377 was an important Medieval French Poet and Composer. (For more on music, see medieval music ; for more on music in the period after Machaux, see Renaissance music). The term medieval music encompasses European music written during the Middle Ages. Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600

French poetry continued to evolve in the 15th century. Charles, duc d'Orléans was a noble and head of one of the most powerful families in France during the Hundred Years' War. Charles of Valois Duke of Orléans ( November 24, 1394 &ndash January 5, 1465) became Duke of Orléans in 1407 following the murder The Hundred Years' War (Guerre de Cent Ans was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne vacant with the extinction of the senior Captured in the Battle of Agincourt, he was a prisoner of the English from 1415-1441 and his ballades often speak of loss and isolation. The Battle of Agincourt was an English victory against a larger French army in the Hundred Years' War. Christine de Pisan was one of the most prolific writers of her age; her "Cité des Dames" is considered a kind of "feminist manifesto". Christine de Pizan ( also seen as de Pisan) (1363–c1434 was a writer of the Medieval era who strongly challenged Misogyny and stereotypes that François Villon was a student and vagabond whose two poetic "testaments" or "wills" are celebrated for their portrayal of the urban and university environment of Paris and their scabrous wit, satire and verbal puns. François Villon (in modern French fʀɑ̃swa viˈjɔ̃ in fifteenth-century French viˈlɔn (c The image of Villon as vagabond poet seems to have gained almost mythic status in the 16th century, and this figure would be championed by poetic rebels of the 19th century and 20th centuries (see Poète maudit). A poète maudit (accursed poet is a Poet living a life outside or against society

Renaissance

Main article: French Renaissance literature

Poetry in the first years of the sixteenth century is characterised by the elaborate sonorous and graphic experimentation and skillful word games of a number of Northern poets (such as Jean Lemaire de Belges and Jean Molinet), generally called “les Grands Rhétoriqueurs” who continued to develop poetic techniques from the previous century. For more information on historical developments in this period see Renaissance, History of France, and Early Modern France. Jean Lemaire de Belges (c 1473 &ndash c 1525 was a Walloon poet and historian who lived primarily in France. Jean Molinet (1435 &ndash August 23, 1507) was a French Poet, Chronicler, and Composer. The Grands Rhétoriqueurs or simply the "Rhétoriqueurs" is the name given to a group of poets from 1460 to 1520 (or from François Villon to Clément Marot Soon however, the impact of Petrarch (the sonnet cycle addressed to an idealised lover, the use of amorous pardoxes), Italian poets in the French court (like Luigi Alamanni), Italian Neo-platonism and humanism, and the rediscovery of certain Greek poets (such as Pindar and Anacreon) would profoundly modify the French tradition. Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar A sonnet cycle is a group of Sonnets arranged to address a particular person or theme and designed to be read both as a collection of fully-realized individual poems and as Luigi Alamanni (sometimes spelt Alemanni; March 6 1495 &ndash April 18 1556 was an Italian Poet and Statesman. Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical Philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD founded by Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal Pindar (ˈpɪndɚ (or Pindarus, Greek:) (probably born 522 BC in Cynoscephalae a village in Boeotia; died 443 BC in Argos) was an Ancient Anacreon ( Greek) (570 BC-488 BC was a Greek lyric Poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns In this respect, the French poets Clément Marot and Mellin de Saint-Gelais are transitional figures: they are credited with some of the first sonnets in French, but their poems continue to employ many of the traditional forms. Clément Marot (23 November 1496 – 12 September 1544 was a French Poet of the Renaissance period Mellin de Saint-Gelais (or Melin de Saint-Gelays or Sainct-Gelais; c The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in Lyric poetry from Europe.

The new direction of poetry is fully apparent in the work of the humanist Jacques Peletier du Mans. Jacques Peletier du Mans (1517 Le Mans – 1582 Paris) was a humanist, Poet and Mathematician of the French Renaissance In 1541, he published the first French translation of Horace's "Ars poetica" and in 1547 he published a collection poems "Œuvres poétiques", which included translations from the first two cantos of Homer's Odyssey and the first book of Virgil's Georgics, twelve Petrarchian sonnets, three Horacian odes and a Martial-like epigram; this poetry collection also included the first published poems of Joachim Du Bellay and Pierre de Ronsard. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, ( Venosa, December 8, 65 BC - Rome, November 27, 8 BC known in the English-speaking world as Horace Homer ( Ancient Greek:, Homēros) is a legendary ancient Greek epic Poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the The Odyssey ( Greek: Ὀδύσσεια or Odússeia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. Publius Vergilius Maro ( October 15, 70 BCE &ndash September 21, 19 BCE later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or The Georgics, published in 29 BCE, is the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil. Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in Lyric poetry from Europe. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, ( Venosa, December 8, 65 BC - Rome, November 27, 8 BC known in the English-speaking world as Horace Ode (from the Ancient Greek) is a form of stately and elaborate lyrical verse. Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial) (March 1 40 AD - ca An epigram is a short Poem, often with a clever twist at the end or a concise and witty statement Joachim du Bellay (c 1522 &ndash January 1, 1560) was a French Poet, Critic, and a member of the Pléiade. Pierre de Ronsard ( 11 September, 1524 – December 1585 was a French Poet and "prince of poets" (as his own generation in France

Around Ronsard, Du Bellay and Jean Antoine de Baïf there formed a group of radical young noble poets of the court (generally known today as La Pléiade, although use of this term is debated). Jean Antoine de Baïf ( February 19, 1532 - September 19, 1589) was a French Poet and member of the This article is about French poetry For other uses see Pleiades (disambiguation The Pléiade is the name given to a group of 16th-century The character of their literary program was given in Du Bellay's manifesto, the "Defense and Illustration of the French Language" (1549) which maintained that French (like the Tuscan of Petrarch and Dante) was a worthy language for literary expression and which promulgated a program of linguistic and literary production (including the imitation of Latin and Greek genres) and purification. Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar For some of the members of the Pléiade, the act of the poety itself was seen as a form of divine inspiration (see Pontus de Tyard for example), a possession by the muses akin to romantic passion, prophetic fervor or alcoholic delirium. Pontus de Tyard (c 1521 - September 23, 1605) was a French Poet and priest a member of " La Pléiade " In Greek mythology, the Muses ( Ancient Greek, hai moũsai: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root * men- "think" are

The forms that dominate the poetic production of the period are the Petrarchian sonnet cycle (developed around an amorous encounter or an idealized woman) and the Horace/Anacreon ode (especially of the "carpe diem" - life is short, seize the day - variety). Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar A sonnet cycle is a group of Sonnets arranged to address a particular person or theme and designed to be read both as a collection of fully-realized individual poems and as Quintus Horatius Flaccus, ( Venosa, December 8, 65 BC - Rome, November 27, 8 BC known in the English-speaking world as Horace Anacreon ( Greek) (570 BC-488 BC was a Greek lyric Poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns Ode (from the Ancient Greek) is a form of stately and elaborate lyrical verse. Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace (See section below Ronsard also tried early on to adapt the Pindaric ode into French. Pindar (ˈpɪndɚ (or Pindarus, Greek:) (probably born 522 BC in Cynoscephalae a village in Boeotia; died 443 BC in Argos) was an Ancient Throughout the period, the use of mythology is frequent, but so too is a depiction of the natural world (woods, rivers). The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" Other genres include the paradoxical encomium (such as Remy Belleau's poem prasing the oyster), the “blason” of the female body (a poetic description of a body part), and propagandistic verse. Encomium is a Latin word deriving from the Classical Greek ἐγκώμιον ( encomion) meaning the praise of a person or thing Remy (or Rémi Belleau (1528 Nogent-le-Rotrou - 1577 Paris) was a Poet of the French Renaissance. Blason originally comes from French Heraldry and means either the codified description of a coat of arms or the coat of arms itself

Several poets of the period -- Jean Antoine de Baïf (who founded an "Académie de Poésie et Musique" in 1570), Blaise de Vigenère and others -- attempted to adapt into French the Latin, Greek or Hebrew poetic meters; these experiments were called "vers mesurés" and "prose mesuré" (for more, see the article "musique mesurée"). Blaise de Vigenère ( April 5, 1523 - 1596 was a French Diplomat and Cryptographer. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly In Poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. Musique mesurée, or Musique mesurée à l'antique, was a style of vocal musical composition in France in the late 16th century.

Although the royal court was the center of much of the century's poetry, Lyon – the second largest city in France in the Renaissance – also had its poets and humanists, most notably Maurice Scève, Louise Labé, Olivier de Magny and Pontus de Tyard. ||-||} Lyon, also known as Lyons in English is a city in east-central France. Maurice Scève (c 1500-c 1564 French Poet, was born at Lyon, where his father practised Law. Louise Labé, (c 1520 or 1522 Lyon - April 25, 1566, Parcieux-en-Dombes) also identified as La Belle Cordière, was a female Pontus de Tyard (c 1521 - September 23, 1605) was a French Poet and priest a member of " La Pléiade " Scève's Délie, objet de plus haulte vertu - composed of 449 ten syllable ten line poems (dizains) and published with numerous engraved emblems - is exemplary in its use of amorous paradoxes and (often obscur) allegory to describe the suffering of a lover. An emblem is a pictorial Image, abstract or representational that epitomizes a Concept — e An allegory (from αλλος allos "other" and el αγορευειν agoreuein "to speak in public" is a figurative mode of representation

Poetry at the end of the century was profoundly marked by the civil wars: pessimism, dourness and a call for retreat from the world predominate (as in Jean de Sponde). The French Wars of Religion (1562 to 1598 between French Catholics and Protestants ( Huguenots involved both civil infighting Jean de Sponde ( Mauléon, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 1557 - Bordeaux, 1595 was a Baroque French Poet. However, the horrors of the war were also to inspire one Protestant poet, Agrippa d'Aubigné, to write a brilliant poem on the conflict:Les Tragiques. Théodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné ( February 8, 1552 &ndash April 29, 1630) was a French Poet, Soldier,

Classical French poetry

Main articles: French literature of the 17th century and French literature of the 18th century

Because of the new conception of "l'honnête homme" or "the honest or upright man", poetry became one of the principle modes of literary production of noble gentlemen and of non-noble professional writers in their patronage in the 17th century. French literature of the 17th century &mdashthe so-called Grand Siècle &mdashspans the reigns of Henry IV of France, the Regency of Marie de Medici French literature of the 18th century usually refers to the literature written between 1715, the year of the death of King Louis XIV of France, and 1798 the year

Poetry was used for all purposes. A great deal of 17th and 18th century poetry was "occasional", meaning that it was written to celebrate a particular event (a marriage, birth, military victory) or to solemnize a tragic occurrence (a death, military defeat), and this kind of poetry was frequent with gentlemen in the service of a noble or the king. Poetry was the chief form of seventeenth century theater: the vast majority of scripted plays were written in verse (see "Theater" below). Poetry was used in satires (Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux is famous for his "Satires" (1666)) and in epics (inspired by the Renaissance epic tradition and by Tasso) like Jean Chapelain's La Pucelle. Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux ( November 1 1636 - March 13, 1711) commonly called Boileau, was a French Poet and Jean Chapelain ( December 4, 1595 - February 22, 1674) was a French Poet and Writer.

Although French poetry during the reign of Henri IV and Louis XIII was still largely inspired by the poets of the late Valois court, some of their excesses and poetic liberties found censure, especially in the work of François de Malherbe who criticized La Pléiade's and Philippe Desportes's irregularities of meter or form (the suppression of the cesura by a hiatus, sentences clauses spilling over into the next line "enjambement", neologisms constructed from Greek words, etc. See also France in the Middle Ages, Early Modern France Unexpected inheritance The Capetian dynasty seemed secure both during and François de Malherbe ( 1555 - October 16, 1628) was a French Poet, Critic and translator This article is about French poetry For other uses see Pleiades (disambiguation The Pléiade is the name given to a group of 16th-century Philippe Desportes (1546 &ndash 5 October 1606) was a French Poet. In meter, caesura (alternative spellings are cæsura or cesura) is a term to denote an audible pause that breaks up a line of verse Hiatus (Latin "yawning" (haɪˈeɪtəs in Linguistics is the separate pronunciation of two adjacent Vowels sometimes with an intervening Glottal stop A neologism (from Greek neo = "new" + logos = "word" is a word that although devised relatively recently in a specific time period has been ). The later 17th century would see Malherbe as the grandfather of poetic classicism.

Poetry came to be a part of the social games in noble salons (see "salons" above), where epigrams, satirical verse, and poetic descriptions were all common (the most famous example is "La Guirlande de Julie" (1641) at the Hôtel de Rambouillet, a collection of floral poems written by the salon members for the birthday of the host's daughter). An epigram is a short Poem, often with a clever twist at the end or a concise and witty statement The linguistic aspects of the phenomenon associated with the "précieuses" (similar to Euphuism in England, Gongorism in Spain and Marinism in Italy) -- the use of highly metaphorical (sometimes obscure) language, the purification of socially unacceptable vocabulary -- was tied to this poetic salon spirit and would have an enormous impact on French poetic and courtly language. The literary style called préciosité ("preciousness" arose from the lively conversations and playful word games of les précieuses, the witty and educated Euphuism is a mannered style of English Prose, taking its name from works by John Lyly who however did not invent the term Luis de Góngora y Argote ( July 11, 1561 &ndash May 24, 1627) was a Spanish Baroque lyric Poet. Giambattista Marino (also Giovan Battista Marino; 14 October 1569 - 25 March 1625) was an Italian poet who was born in Although "préciosité" was often mocked (especially in the later 1660s when the phenomenon had spread to the provinces) for its linguistic and romantic excesses (often linked to a misogynistic disdain for intellectual women), the French language and social manners of the seventeenth century were permanently changed by it.

From the 1660s, three poets stand out. Jean de La Fontaine gained enormous celebrity through his Aesop inspired "Fables" (1668-1693) which were written in an irregular verse form (different meter lengths are used in a poem). Aesop (also spelled Æsop, from the Greek Αἴσωπος — Aisōpos) (620-560 BC) known only for the genre of Fables Jean Racine was seen as the greatest tragedy writer of his age. Jean Racine ( ( December 22, 1639 &ndash April 21, 1699) was a French Dramatist, one of the "big three" of Finally, Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux became the theorizer of poetic classicism: his "Art poétique" (1674) praised reason and logic (Boileau elevated Malherbe as the first of the rational poets), believability, moral usefulness and moral correctness; it elevated tragedy and the poetic epic as the great genres and recommended imitation of the poets of antiquity. Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux ( November 1 1636 - March 13, 1711) commonly called Boileau, was a French Poet and

"Classicism" in poetry would dominate until the pre-romantics and the French Revolution.

From a technical point of view, the poetic production from the late seventeenth century on increasingly relied on stanza forms incorporating rhymed couplets, and by the eighteenth century fixed-form poems – and, in particular, the sonnet – were largely avoided. The resulting versification – less constrained by meter and rhyme patterns than Reniassance poetry – more closely mirrored prose [1].

Nineteenth-century

Main article: French literature of the 19th century

French poetry from the first half of the century was dominated by Romanticism, associated with such authors as Victor Hugo, Alphonse de Lamartine, and Gérard de Nerval. French literature of the nineteenth century is for the purpose of this article literature written in French from (roughly 1799 to 1900 Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Victor-Marie Hugo ( ( February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885) was a French Poet, Playwright, Novelist Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (Alphonse-Marie-Louis de Prat de Lamartine ( October 21, 1790 - February 28, 1869) was a French Gérard de Nerval (ʒeʁaːʁ də nɛʁval ( May 22, 1808 &ndash January 26, 1855) was the Nom-de-plume of the The effect of the romantic movement would continue to be felt in the latter half of the century in wildly diverse literary developments, such as "realism", "symbolism", and the so-called fin de siècle "decadent" movement (see below). In 19th century European and especially French literature, Decadence was the name given first by hostile critics and then triumphantly adopted by some writers Victor Hugo was the outstanding genius of the Romantic School and its recognized leader. He was prolific alike in poetry, drama, and fiction. Other writers associated with the movement were the austere and pessimistic Alfred de Vigny, Théophile Gautier a devotee of beauty and creator of the "Art for art's sake" movement, and Alfred de Musset, who best exemplifies romantic melancholy. Alfred Victor de Vigny ( March 27, 1797 &ndash September 17, 1863) was a French Poet, Playwright, and Novelist See also Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( August 30, 1811 – October 23, 1872) was a French Poet, Dramatist " Art for art's sake " is the usual English rendition of a French Slogan, from the early 19th century l'art pour l'art and expresses a philosophy Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay Along with his poetry he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle ( The Confession of a Child of the Century

By the middle of the century, an attempt to be objective was made in poetry by the group of writers known as the Parnassians -- which included Leconte de Lisle, Théodore de Banville, Catulle Mendès, Sully-Prudhomme, François Coppée, José María de Heredia and (early in his career) Paul Verlaine -- who (using Théophile Gautier's notion of art for art's sake and the pursuit of the beautiful) strove for exact and faultless workmanship, and selected exotic and classical subjects which they treated with a rigidity of form and an emotional detachment (elements of which echo the philosophical work of Arthur Schopenhauer whose aesthetic theories would also have an influence on the symbolists). Parnassianism (or less commonly parnasism) was a literary style characteristic of certain French poetry during the positivist period of the 19th century Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle ( October 22, 1818 – July 17, 1894) was a French Poet of the Parnassian Théodore Faullain de Banville ( March 14 1823 &ndash March 13 1891) was a French Poet and Writer. Catulle Mendès ( 22 May 1841 – 8 February 1909) was a French Poet and Man of letters. René-François-Armand (Sully Prudhomme ( Paris, France, March 16, 1839 - Châtenay-Malabry, France, September François Edouard Joachim Coppée ( January 26, 1842 &ndash May 23, 1908) was a French Poet and Novelist José-Maria de Heredia (in Spanish: José María de Heredia, November 22, 1842 - October 3, 1905) Cuban born Paul-Marie Verlaine (vɛʁˈlɛn March 30, 1844 &ndash January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist See also Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( August 30, 1811 – October 23, 1872) was a French Poet, Dramatist " Art for art's sake " is the usual English rendition of a French Slogan, from the early 19th century l'art pour l'art and expresses a philosophy Arthur Schopenhauer's aesthetics flow from his doctrine of the primacy of the Will as the Thing in itself, the ground of life and all being and from his

The naturalist tendency to see life without illusions and to dwell on its more depressing and sordid aspects appears in an intensified degree in the immensely influential poetry of Charles Baudelaire, but with profoundly romantic elements derived from the Byronic myth of the anti-hero and the romantic poet

The poetry of Baudelaire and much of the literature in the latter half of the century (or "fin de siècle") were often characterized as "decadent" for their lurid content or moral vision. Fin de siècle (fɑ̃ dɛ si'ɛːkl French for ‛end of the century‘ was a cultural movement between 1880 and the beginning of World War I. Decadence can refer to a personal trait or to the state of a society (or segment of it In a similar vein, Paul Verlaine used the expression "poète maudit" ("accursed poet") in 1884 to refer to a number of poets like Tristan Corbière, Stéphane Mallarmé and Arthur Rimbaud who had fought against poetic conventions and suffered social rebuke or had been ignored by the critics. Paul-Marie Verlaine (vɛʁˈlɛn March 30, 1844 &ndash January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist A poète maudit (accursed poet is a Poet living a life outside or against society Tristan Corbière ( July 18, 1845 &ndash March 1, 1875) born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar Stéphane Mallarmé (malaʁ'me ( March 18, 1842 – September 9, 1898) whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French "Rimbaud" redirects here For other uses see Rimbaud (disambiguation Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (ræm'boʊ or in French aʁtyʁ But with the publication of Jean Moréas "Symbolist Manifesto" in 1886, it was the term symbolism which was most often applied to the new literary environment. Jean Moréas (born Ioannis A Papadiamontopoulos, Ιωάννης Α Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century Art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts

The writers Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine, Paul Valéry, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Arthur Rimbaud, Jules Laforgue, Jean Moréas, Gustave Kahn, Albert Samain, Jean Lorrain, Rémy de Gourmont, Pierre Louÿs, Tristan Corbière, Henri de Régnier, Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Stuart Merrill, René Ghil, Saint-Pol Roux, Oscar-Vladislas de Milosz, the Belgians Albert Giraud, Emile Verhaeren, Georges Rodenbach and Maurice Maeterlinck and others have been called symbolists, although each author's personal literary project was unique. Stéphane Mallarmé (malaʁ'me ( March 18, 1842 – September 9, 1898) whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French Paul-Marie Verlaine (vɛʁˈlɛn March 30, 1844 &ndash January 8, 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry (French pɔl valeˈʁi October 30, 1871 – July 20, 1945) was a French Poet Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans ( February 5, 1848 – May 12, 1907) was a French Novelist who published his works as "Rimbaud" redirects here For other uses see Rimbaud (disambiguation Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (ræm'boʊ or in French aʁtyʁ Jules Laforgue (French ʒyl laˈfɔʀg ( Montevideo, 16 August 1860 – Paris, 20 August 1887) was a French Jean Moréas (born Ioannis A Papadiamontopoulos, Ιωάννης Α Gustave Kahn ( December 21, 1859 – September 5, 1936) was a French Symbolist Poet and art critic Albert Victor Samain ( April 3, 1858 &mdash August 18, 1900) was a French poet and writer of the Symbolist school Jean Lorrain ( August 29, 1855 - June 30, 1906) born Paul Duval, was a French Poet and novelist of the Remy de Gourmont ( April 4, 1858 - September 27, 1915) was a French Symbolist poet Novelist and influential Pierre Louÿs ( December 10, 1870 - June 6, 1925) was a French poet and Romantic writer most renowned for Lesbian and classical Tristan Corbière ( July 18, 1845 &ndash March 1, 1875) born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar Henri François Joseph de Régnier ( December 28, 1864 - May 23, 1936) was a French Symbolist poet considered one of the foremost of Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam ( November 7, 1838 – August 19, 1889) was a French Stuart Fitzrandolph Merrill ( August 1, 1863 &ndash 1915 was an American poet born in Hempstead New York, who wrote mostly in the French Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz Milosz ( Oskaras Milašius) ( May 28 1877 — March 2 1939) was a French-Lithuanian writer and Lithuanian diplomat Albert Giraud ( June 23 1860 &ndash December 26 1929) was a Belgian poet writing in the French language. Emile Verhaeren (21 May 1855 – 27 November 1916 was a Belgian poet who wrote in the French language, and one of the chief founders of the school of Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach (July 16 1855 in Tournai, Belgium – December 25 1898 in Paris) was a Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Count Maeterlinck ( August 29, 1862 - May 6, 1949) was a Belgian Poet, Playwright, [2]

From a technical point of view, the Romantics were responsible for a return to (and sometimes a modification of) many of the fixed-form poems used during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as well as for the creation of new forms. The sonnet however was little used until the Parnassians brought it back into favor [3], and the sonnet would subsequently find its most significant practitioner in Charles Baudelaire. The traditional French sonnet form was however significantly modified by Baudelaire, who used 32 different forms of sonnet with non-traditional rhyme patterns to great effect in his Les Fleurs du mal [4]. Les Fleurs du mal (literal trans "The Flowers of Evil" is a volume of French Poetry by Charles Baudelaire.

Twentieth-century

Main article: French literature of the 20th century

Guillaume Apollinaire radicalized the Baudelairian poetic exploration of modern life in evoking planes, the Eiffel Tower and urban wastelands, and he brought poetry into contact with cubism through his "Calligrammes", a form of visual poetry. French literature of the twentieth century is for the purpose of this article literature written in French from (roughly 1895 to 1990 Guillaume Apollinaire (in French ɡijom apɔliˈnɛʁ ( August 26, 1880 &ndash November 9, 1918) was a French Poet Calligrammes, subtitled Poems of war and peace 1913-1916, is a collection of Poems by Guillaume Apollinaire, and was first published in 1918 Visual poetry, is Poetry or Art in which the visual arrangement of text images and symbols is important in conveying the intended effect of the work Inspired by Rimbaud, Paul Claudel used a form of free verse to explore his mystical conversion to Catholicism. Paul Claudel ( 6 August 1868 &ndash 23 February 1955) was a French Poet, Dramatist and Diplomat, Other poets from this period include: Paul Valéry, Max Jacob (a key member of the group around Apollinaire), Pierre Jean Jouve (a follower of Romain Rolland's "Unanism"), Valery Larbaud (a translator of Whitman and friend to Joyce), Victor Segalen (friend to Huysmans and Claudel), Léon-Paul Fargue (who studied with Stéphane Mallarmé and was close to Valéry and Larbaud). Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry (French pɔl valeˈʁi October 30, 1871 – July 20, 1945) was a French Poet Max Jacob ( July 12, 1876 &ndash March 5, 1944) was a French Poet, painter, Writer, and critic Pierre Jean Jouve (1887 - 1976 was a French writer novelist and poet Valery Larbaud ( 29 August, 1881 Vichy – 2 February, 1957 Vichy) was a French Writer. Victor Segalen ( January 14, 1878 - May 21, 1919) was a French naval doctor Ethnographer, Archeologist, writer Léon-Paul Fargue ( March 4, 1876 - November 24, 1947) was a French Poet and essayist Stéphane Mallarmé (malaʁ'me ( March 18, 1842 – September 9, 1898) whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French

The First World War generated even more radical tendencies. The Dada movement -- which began in a café in Switzerland in 1916 -- came to Paris in 1920, but by 1924 the writers around Paul Eluard, André Breton, Louis Aragon and Robert Desnos -- heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud's notion of the unconscious -- had modified dada provocation into Surrealism. For other meanings see Dada (disambiguation DaDa is a Concept album by Alice Cooper, released Paul Éluard was the Pen name of Eugène Émile Paul Grindel ( 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952) a French André Breton (in French ɑ̃dʀe bʀəˈtɔ̃ ( February 19, 1896 &ndash September 28, 1966) was a French Writer, Louis Aragon lwi aʁaˈgɔ̃ in French ( October 3, 1897 &ndash December 24, 1982) French Poet and Novelist Robert Desnos ( 4 July 1900 - 8 June 1945) was a French Surrealist poet who played a key role in the surrealistic movement of his day Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Many observers throughout history have argued that there are influences on Consciousness from other parts of the Mind. Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members In writing and in the visual arts, and by using automatic writing, creative games (like the cadavre exquis) and altered states (through alcohol and narcotics), the surrealists tried to reveal the workings of the unconscious mind. Automatic writing is the process or product of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer Exquisite corpse (also known as "exquisite cadaver" or "rotating corpse" is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled the result The group championed previous writers they saw as radical (Arthur Rimbaud, the Comte de Lautréamont, Baudelaire) and promoted an anti-bourgeois philosophy (particularly with regards to sex and politics) which would later lead most of them to join the communist party. "Rimbaud" redirects here For other uses see Rimbaud (disambiguation Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (ræm'boʊ or in French aʁtyʁ Comte de Lautréamont (lotʁeaˈmɔ̃ in French was the Pen name of Isidore Lucien Ducasse ( April 4 Other writers associated with surrealism include: Jean Cocteau, René Crevel, Jacques Prévert, Jules Supervielle, Benjamin Péret, Philippe Soupault, Pierre Reverdy, Antonin Artaud (who revolutionized theater), Henri Michaux and René Char. Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (5 July 1889 &ndash 11 October 1963 was a French Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Designer, Boxing René Crevel ( August 10, 1900 – June 18, 1935) was a French Writer involved with the surrealist movement Jacques Prévert (ʒak pʀeˈvɛʀ in French February 4, 1900 - April 11, 1977) was a French Poet and Screenwriter Jules Supervielle ( January 16 1884 - May 17 1960) was a French Poet and Writer born in Uruguay Benjamin Péret ( 4 July 1899 - 18 September 1959) was a French poet and Surrealist. Philippe Soupault ( 2 August 1897 &ndash 12 March 1990) was a French writer and poet novelist critic and political activist Pierre Reverdy ( 13 September 1889 - 17 June 1960) was a French poet associated with Surrealism and Cubism. Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud ( September 4, 1896, in Marseille – March 4, 1948 in Henri Michaux ( May 24, 1899 - October 18, 1984) was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian Poet, Writer and painter René Char ( June 14, 1907 &ndash February 19, 1988) was a 20th century French Poet. The surrealist movement would continue to be a major force in experimental writing and the international art world until the Second World War.

The effects of surrealism would later also be felt among authors who were not strictly speaking part of the movement, such as the poet Alexis Saint-Léger Léger (who wrote under the name Saint-John Perse), the poet Edmond Jabès (who came to France in 1956 when the Jewish population was expelled from his native Egypt) and Georges Bataille. Saint-John Perse (pseudonym of Alexis Léger, also Alexis Saint-Léger Léger) ( 31 May, 1887 &ndash 20 September, 1975 Edmond Jabès ( Cairo, 1912 &ndash Paris, January 2 1991 was a Jewish writer and poet and one of the best known literary figures to write in French after Georges Bataille (ʒɔʀʒ baˈtaj ( September 10, 1897 &ndash July 8, 1962) was a French Writer. The Swiss writer Blaise Cendrars was close to Apollinaire, Pierre Reverdy, Max Jacob and the artists Chagall and Léger, and his work has similarities with both surrealism and cubism. Frédéric Louis Sauser ( September 1, 1887 &ndash January 21, 1961) better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss novelist and poet

Poetry in the post-war period followed a number of interlinked paths, most notably deriving from surrealism (such as with the early work of René Char), or from philosophical and phenomenological concerns stemming from Heidegger, Friedrich Hölderlin, existentialism, the relationship between poetry and the visual arts, and Stéphane Mallarmé's notions of the limits of language. René Char ( June 14, 1907 &ndash February 19, 1988) was a 20th century French Poet. Martin Heidegger ( September 26, 1889 &ndash May 26, 1976) (ˈmaɐ̯tiːn ˈhaɪ̯dɛgɐ was an influential German philosopher Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (ˈjoːhan ˈkrɪstiaːn ˈfriːdrɪç 'hœldərliːn in German March 20, 1770 &ndash June 6, 1843 Stéphane Mallarmé (malaʁ'me ( March 18, 1842 – September 9, 1898) whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French Another important influence was the German poet Paul Celan. Paul Celan (ˈpaʊl tseˈlaːn November 23, 1920 – approximately April 20, 1970) was the most frequently used Pseudonym of Poets concerned with these philosophical/language concerns -- especially concentrated around the review "L'Ephémère" -- include Yves Bonnefoy, André du Bouchet, Jacques Dupin, Roger Giroux and Philippe Jaccottet. Yves Bonnefoy (born June 24 1923 is a French poet and essayist André du Bouchet ( April 7 1924 – April 19 2001) was a French Poet. Jacques Dupin (born March 4, 1927) is a French Poet.He has lived in Paris since 1943 and written essays on Modern Art Roger Giroux (1925–1974 was a French Poet. Giroux's one book was awarded the Prix Max Jacob award Philippe Jaccottet (born in Moudon, Switzerland, on June 30 1925) is a Poet and Translator who publishes in French Many of these ideas were also key to the works of Maurice Blanchot. Maurice Blanchot ( September 22, 1907  &ndash February 20, 2003) was a French Writer, Philosopher, and The unique poetry of Francis Ponge exerted a strong influence on a variety of writers (both phenomenologists and those from the group "Tel Quel"). Francis Jean Gaston Alfred Ponge ( March 27, 1899 - August 6, 1988) was a French Essayist and Poet. Tel Quel (in English "as is" was an Avant-garde Journal for Literature, founded in 1960 in Paris (Éditions du Seuil by The later poets Claude Royet-Journoud, Anne-Marie Albiach, Emmanuel Hocquard, and to a degree Jean Daive, describe a shift from Heidegger to Ludwig Wittgenstein and a reevalution of Mallarmé's notion of fiction and theatricality; these poets were also influenced by certain English-language modern poets (such as Ezra Pound,Louis Zukofsky, William Carlos Williams, and George Oppen) along with certain American postmodern and avant garde poets loosely grouped around the language poetry movement. Claude Royet-Journoud (born 1941 in Lyon France) is a contemporary French poet of the Avant-garde. Anne-Marie Albiach (born in 1937 is a contemporary French Poet and Translator. Emmanuel Hocquard (born in 1940 in Cannes) is a French Poet who grew up in Tangier, Morocco. Martin Heidegger ( September 26, 1889 &ndash May 26, 1976) (ˈmaɐ̯tiːn ˈhaɪ̯dɛgɐ was an influential German philosopher Ezra Weston Loomis Pound ( Hailey, Idaho Territory, United States October 30 1885 – Venice, Italy November 1 1972 was an American Expatriate Louis Zukofsky ( January 23, 1904 – May 12, 1978) was one of the most important second-generation American William Carlos Williams ( 17 September 1883 &ndash 4 March 1963) was an American poet closely associated with modernism George Oppen ( April 24, 1908 - July 7, 1984) was an American poet best known as one of the members of the Objectivist The Language poets (or L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets, after the magazine that bears that name are an Avant garde group or tendency in United States

Important French and Francophone poets

Middle Ages

(includes both trouvères and troubadours)

Sixteenth century

Seventeenth century

Eighteenth century

Nineteenth century

Twentieth century

References

Notes

  1. ^ Morier, p. 385.
  2. ^ For more on the symbolist poets, see Huston and Houston.
  3. ^ Morier, 385. Vigny wrote no sonnets; Hugo only wrote 3.
  4. ^ Monier, 390-393. Morier terms these sonnets faux sonnets, or "false sonnets"

See also

Poets who have written in the French language: A Guillaume Apollinaire Louis Aragon Agrippa d'Aubigné Parnassianism (or less commonly parnasism) was a literary style characteristic of certain French poetry during the positivist period of the 19th century
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