Pierre de Ronsard

• 1. The Silence That Spoke

  ›

  Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière in the village of Couture-sur-Loir, Vendômois on the 11th of September 1524. His father Louis de Ronsard served Francis I as maître d'hôtel du roi. The young Pierre received an education at home before attending the College of Navarre in Paris at age nine. He later travelled extensively to Scotland, Flanders, and Holland on diplomatic missions with Claude d'Humières. A hearing impairment following a 1540 visit to Alsace halted his diplomatic career permanently. No physician could cure this condition that would define his future path. He determined to devote himself to study instead of statecraft. The institution he chose for this purpose among the numerous schools of Paris was the Collège Coqueret.

• 2. Seven Writers And A Manifesto

  ›

  Ronsard became the acknowledged leader of La Pléiade, a group of seven French Renaissance poets. The Défense et illustration de la langue française appeared in 1549 from the pen of Joachim du Bellay rather than Ronsard. This document launched what was first called the Brigade. The orthodox canon included Ronsard, Du Bellay, Baïf, Belleau, Pontus de Tyard, Jodelle the dramatist, and Daurat. Jean Daurat served as principal of Collège Coqueret and had been tutor in the Baïf household. Antoine de Baïf accompanied Ronsard while studying there. Remy Belleau followed shortly after joining the circle. Their new literary movement applied principles of criticism and scholarship learnt from classics to vernacular French. Some single pieces preceded the publication in 1550 of four books of Odes by Pierre de Ronsard.

• 3. Cassandre And The Literary Quarrel

  ›

  His Amours de Cassandre published in 1552 dedicated itself to fifteen-year-old Cassandre Salviati whom he met at Blois. He followed her to her father's Château de Talcy where she resided. These books excited violent literary quarrels among contemporaries. Marot died but left numerous followers who saw strict literary critique as an insult. Mellin de Saint-Gelais chief of the École Marotique read part of Ronsard's book before the king in burlesque fashion. Marguerite de Valois snatched the book from Saint-Gelais and insisted on reading it herself with general applause. His acceptance as a poet became not doubtful after this incident. The tradition of him fighting cabals is almost entirely unsupported despite popular belief. He published Hymns dedicated to Margaret de Valois in 1555 concluding his amatory series addressed to another heroine in 1556.

• 4. Court Favor And Religious Fury

  ›

  Charles IX King of France succeeded his brother after a very short time and was even better inclined toward Ronsard than Henry or Francis. Charles gave him rooms in the palace and bestowed diverse abbacies and priories upon him. This royal patronage excited violent dislike to Ronsard on the part of Huguenots who wrote constant pasquinades against him. They strove to represent him as a libertine and atheist through ridiculous exaggeration of Dionysiac festivals at Arcueil. Some words of his own indicate they attempted to have him assassinated during this period. The Franciade appeared in 1572 but never finished due to its versification failing epic requirements. Its publication coincided almost exactly with the massacre of St Bartholomew occurring about a fortnight before release. One party looked coldly on work from a court minion while others had different priorities.

• 5. Marbrine Verses And Horatian Odes

  ›

  Ronsard used gorgeous adjectives like marbrine cinabrine and ivoirine which were another fancy of the Pléiade school. He began by imitating strophic arrangement of ancients but soon deserted this for adjustment of Horatian ode to rhyme instead of exact quantitative metre. His more sustained work sometimes displays bad selection of measure while occasional poetry suffers from vast volume. The preface to Franciade stands as fine piece of verse superior to poem itself written in alexandrines. He knew well how to manage graceful diminutives which his school set in fashion. His many odes are interesting compositions showing magnificence of language and imagery alongside graceful variety of metre. Famous works include Fontaine Bellerie and Forêt de Gastine described with grace and freshness throughout.

• 6. The Century Of Silence

  ›

  After Malherbe classical reaction set in under auspices who seems animated with personal hatred though unclear if they ever met. Rising glory of Corneille and contemporaries obscured tentative work of Pléiade directly attacked by Boileau dictator of French criticism last half seventeenth century. Ronsard remained forgotten except by few men of taste such as Jean de La Bruyère and Fénelon during whole eighteenth century and first quarter nineteenth. Romantic revival adopted his name as battle-cry attracted by splendid diction rich metrical faculty combination of classical medieval peculiarities. Critical work of Sainte-Beuve in Tableau de la littérature française au 16ème siècle established reputation finally. From 1630 Ronsard not again reprinted for more than two centuries until close second period when Sainte-Beuve printed selection accompanying above mentioned Tableau in 1828.