Curated playlist
French male poets
- VoltaireThe line Voltaire is most quoted for was written in 1906, long after he died.
- Jules VerneJules Verne has been the second most-translated author in the world since 1979. Only Agatha Christie ranks higher.
- Victor HugoVictor Hugo asked for a pauper's funeral and got the largest in French history.
- Benoît de Sainte-MaureLe Roman de Troie gave medieval French readers the Trojan War without Homer. Benoît wrote it between 1155 and 1160.
- Nicholas Bourbon (the elder)In 1535, French poet Nicholas Bourbon crossed to England to thank Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
- Jean CocteauJean Cocteau recorded his 1929 recovery from opium in a diary of drawings and withdrawal notes.
- Dudo of Saint-QuentinDudo of Saint-Quentin wrote Norman history without consulting any existing documents.
- François RabelaisRabelais imagined an abbey with a swimming pool, no clocks and one rule: Do What You Want.
- Joachim du BellayA lead coffin found under Notre-Dame may hold poet Joachim du Bellay. Bone tests point to western France, not his home.
- Lancelot de CarleHenry VIII demanded that a French poem about Anne Boleyn be destroyed. Lancelot de Carle wrote it in 1536.
- Raymond QueneauRaymond Queneau calculated that his book of sonnets would take 190,258,751 years to read nonstop.
- Pierre de RonsardSudden deafness in 1540 ended Pierre de Ronsard's career as a diplomat's aide.
- Yves BonnefoyYves Bonnefoy refused to call himself a poet. He said he was a critic or a historian.