François Edouard Joachim Coppée (26 January 1842 – 23 May 1908) was a French

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

Biography

Coppée was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

to a civil servant. After attending the

Lycée Saint-Louis The lycée Saint-Louis is a highly selective post-secondary school located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, in the Latin Quarter. It is the only public French lycée exclusively dedicated to providing '' classes préparatoires aux grandes ...

he became a clerk in the ministry of war and won public favour as a poet of the Parnassian school. His first printed verses date from 1864. In 1869, his "Poème modernes" (among others ''La Grève de forgerons'') were quite successful. In the same year, Coppée's first play, ''Le Passant'', starring Sarah Bernhardt and Madame Agar, was received with approval at the Odéon theatre, and later ''Fais ce que dois'' (1871) and ''Les Bijoux de la délivrance'' (1872), short poetic dramas inspired by the Franco-Prussian War, were applauded. After holding a post in the library of the senate, Coppée was chosen in 1878 as archivist of the Comédie Française, an office he held till 1884. In that year, his election to the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

caused him to retire from all public appointments. He was made an officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleo ...

in 1888. Coppée was famed as ''le poète des humbles'' (the poet of the humble). His verse and prose focus on plain expressions of emotion, patriotism, the joy of young love, and the pitifulness of the poor. Coppée continued to write plays, mostly serious dramas in verse, two of which were composed in collaboration with Armand d'Artois. The performance of a short episode of the Commune, ''Le Pater'', was prohibited by the government in 1889. Coppée published his first prose work in 1875 and went on to publish short stories, an autobiography of his youth, a series of short articles on miscellaneous subjects, and ''La Bonne Souffrance,'' a popular account of his reconversion to the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. His conversion was due to a severe illness which twice brought him close to death. Coppée was also interested in public affairs, joining the most violent section of the Nationalist movement (while remaining contemptuous of the apparatus of democracy) and taking a leading part against

Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...

in the

Dreyfus affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

. He was one of the founders of the

Ligue de la patrie française The Ligue de la patrie française (French Homeland League) was a French nationalist and anti- Dreyfus organization. It was officially founded in 1899, and brought together leading right-wing artists, scientists and intellectuals. The league fielded ...

, which originated in 1898 with three young academics,

Louis Dausset Louis Dausset (September 3, 1866 – January 22, 1940) was a French politician. He served as a member of the French Senate from 1920 to 1927, representing Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_ele ...

Gabriel Syveton Gabriel Syveton (21 February 1864 – 8 December 1904) was a French historian and politician. He was one of the founding members of the patriotic and anti-Dreyfus Ligue de la patrie française. He was elected as deputy for the Seine in 1902. He wa ...

and Henri Vaugeois, who wanted to show that Dreyfusism was not accepted by all at the University. They launched a petition that attacked

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

and what many saw as an internationalist, pacifist left-wing conspiracy.

Charles Maurras Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-parl ...

gained the interest of the writer

Maurice Barrès Auguste-Maurice Barrès (; 19 August 1862 – 4 December 1923) was a French novelist, journalist and politician. Spending some time in Italy, he became a figure in French literature with the release of his work '' The Cult of the Self'' in 188 ...

, and the movement gained the support of three eminent personalities: the geographer

Marcel Dubois Marcel Dubois (25 July 1856 – 23 October 1916) was a French geographer. He was a co-founder of the ''Annales de Géographie'', a journal of academic geography. Early years Marcel Dubois was born in Paris on 25 July 1856. He attended the Éco ...

, the poet François Coppée and the critic and literature professor

Jules Lemaître François Élie Jules Lemaître (27 April 1853 – 4 August 1914) was a French critic and dramatist. Biography Lemaître was born in Vennecy, Loiret. He became a professor at the University of Grenoble in 1883, but was already well known for his ...

Criticism

The poet

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

, a young contemporary of Coppée, published numerous parodies of Coppée's poetry. Rimbaud's parodies were published in '' L'Album Zutique'' (in 1871? 1872?). Most of these poems parody the style ("chatty comfortable rhymes" that were "the delight of the enlightened bourgeois of the day") and form (

alexandrine Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French ''Roman ...

couplets A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...

arranged in ten line verses) of some short poems by Coppée. Rimbaud published them under the name ''François Coppée''.Hackett, Cecil Arthur (1981). ''Rimbaud, a Critical Introduction''. CUP Archive. The poet Lautréamont cited his ''Grève de Forgerons'' in the list of the "penpushers" to be absolutely ignored (''Poèsie, Part I'').

Works

Poetry

*''Le Reliquaire'' (1866) *''Intimités'' (1867) *''Poémes modernes'' (among them: ''L'Angelus'', ''Le Père'', ''La Grève de forgerons) (1867-9) *''Les Humbles'' (1872) *''Le Cahier rouge'' (1874) *''Olivier'' (1875) *''L'Exilée'' (1876) *''Contes en vers'' (1881) *''Poèmes et récits'' (1886) *''Arrière-saison'' (1887) *''Paroles sincères'' (1890) *''Dans la prière et la lutte'' *''Vers français'' *''Salut, Petit Jesus'' ″Pour Toujours" (1892) *''A tes yeux ''

Plays

*''Le Passant'' (1869) Translated into Portuguese by

Alves Crespo (playwright, 1847–1907) Alves is a surname that appears to originate both from Portugal and Scotland. It is debatable whether the surname appeared first in one country or the other, since it is more prevalent in Portugal, but registered as far back as the 13th century in ...

as ''Sonho'' and published in 1905. *''Deux Douleurs'' (1870) *''Fais ce que Dois'' (1871) *''L'Abandonnée'' (1871) *''Les Bijoux de la Délivrance'' (1872) *''Le Rendez-Vous'' (1872) *''Prologue d'Ouverture pour les Matinées de la Gaîté'' (1874) *''Le Luthier de Crémone'' (1876) *''La Guerre de Cent Ans'' (1877) *''Le Tresor'' (1879) *''La Bataille d'Hernani'' (1880) *''La Maison de Molière'' (1880) *''

Madame de Maintenon Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

'' (1881) *''Severo Torelli'' (1883) Translated into Portuguese by Jaime Victor and Macedo Papança, Visconde de Monsaraz, and performed in Lisbon at the National Theatre in 1887. Published in the same year. *''Les Jacobites'' (1885) *''Le Pater'' (1889) Translated into Portuguese by Margarida de Sequeira as ''O Pater''. *''Pour la couronne'' (1895) Translated into English by John Davidson as ''For the Crown'' and performed at the

Lyceum Theatre, London The Lyceum Theatre ( ) is a West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the Strand in central London. It has a seating capacity of 2,100. The origins of the theatre date to 1765. Managed by Samuel Arnold ...

, in 1896. ''For the Crown'' was performed at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

as a prize-winning opera ''The Cross and the Crescent'' with music by

Colin McAlpin Colin McAlpin (9 April 1870 – 13 May 1942) was an English composer of songs, operas and ballet music, an organist and a writer of critical essays on music. Life Colin McAlpin was born in 1870, at 15 Gallowtree Gate, Leicester, England. He wa ...

in 1903.

Prose works

Drawing of François Edouard Joachim Coppée

*''Une Idylle pendant le siège'' (1874) *''Toute une jeunesse'' (1890) *''Les Vrais riches'' (1892) *''Le Coupable'' (1896). Translated into portuguese by Jorge de Abreu (1874–1932) as ''O criminoso'' (Lisboa: Empresa Lusitana, 356 p.; 16 cm.; col. Selecta) *''Mon franc-parler'' (1893–96) (articles) *''La Bonne Souffrance'' (1898)

Works in English translation

* (1890). ''Ten Tales''. * (1893). ''True Riches''. * (1894). ''Blessed Are the Poor''. * (1896). ''Coppée and Maupassant Tales''. * (1901). ''Tale for Christmas, and Other Seasons''. * (1905). ''A Romance of Youth''. * (1910). "A Piece of Bread," in ''International Short Stories''. * (1915). ''Pater Noster''. * (1915). "The Wounded Soldier in the Convent," in ''War Poems and Other Translations'', by

Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...

. * (1931). ''The Lord's Prayer''.

Notes

Sources

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External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coppee, Francois 1842 births 1908 deaths 19th-century French novelists 19th-century poets 19th-century French male writers Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery French poets French Roman Catholics French tax resisters French male poets French male novelists Infectious disease deaths in France Members of the Académie Française Members of the Ligue de la patrie française Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Symbolist novelists Symbolist poets Writers from Paris