François de Malherbe (, 1555 – 16 October 1628) 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 ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or gover ...

, and translator.

Life

He was born in Le Locheur (near

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Normandie), to a family of standing, although the family's pedigree did not satisfy the heralds in terms of its claims to nobility pre-16th century. Francois the poet was the eldest son of another François de Malherbe, ''conseiller du roi'' in the magistracy of Caen. He himself was elaborately educated at Caen, at

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 ...

, at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

and at

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...

. At the age of twenty-one, preferring arms to the gown, he entered the household of

Henri d'Angoulême Henri de Valois, duc d'Angoulême (1551 – 2 June 1586, in Aix-en-Provence), sometimes called "Henri, bâtard de Valois" or "Henri de France", was a ''Légitimé de France'', cleric, and military commander during the Wars of Religion. Biography ...

, the illegitimate son of Henry II, governor of Provence. He served this prince as secretary in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...

, and married there in 1581. It seems that he wrote verses at this period, but, to judge from a quotation of

Tallemant des Réaux Tallemant may refer to: * François Tallemant l'Aîné *Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux Gédéon Tallemant, Sieur des Réaux (7 November 1619 – 6 November 1692) was a French writer known for his ''Historiettes'', a collection of short biograp ...

, they must have been very bad ones. His patron died when Malherbe was on a visit in his native province, and for a time he had no particular employment, though by some servile verses he obtained a considerable gift of money from Henry III, whom he afterwards libelled. He lived partly in Provence and partly in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

for many years after this event; but very little is known of his life during this period. His ''Larmes de Saint Pierre'', imitated from Luigi Tansillo, appeared in 1587. Robert Lefevre 19

It was in 1600 that he presented to

Maria de' Medici Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingdom ...

an ode of welcome, the first of his remarkable poems. But four or five years more passed before his fortune, which had hitherto been indifferent, turned. He was presented by his countryman, the Cardinal Du Perron, to Henry IV; and, though that economical prince did not at first show any great eagerness to entertain the poet, he was at last summoned to court and endowed after one fashion or another. It is said that the pension promised him was not paid till the next reign. His father died in 1606, and he came into his inheritance. From this time forward he lived at court, corresponding affectionately with his wife, but seeing her only twice in some twenty years. His old age was saddened by a great misfortune. His son, Marc Antoine, a young man of promise, died in a duel against Paul de Fortia de Piles. Malherbe suspected foul play and used his utmost influence to have the de Fortia and Jean Baptiste de Covet (de Fortia's second in the duel) brought to justice. Malherbe died before the suit was decided; it is said in consequence of disease caught at the

siege of La Rochelle The siege of La Rochelle (, or sometimes ) was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627–28. The siege marked the height of the struggle between the Catholics and the Pr ...

, where he had gone to petition the king. Malherbe died in Paris, on October 16, 1628, at the age of seventy-three, only 15 months after his son. The football team from Caen, France, ''Stade Malherbe de Caen'', is named after him.

Works

Malherbe exercised, or at least indicated the exercise of, a great and enduring effect upon French literature, though not exactly a wholly beneficial one. From the time of Malherbe dates the gradual development of the poetic rules of "Classicism" that would dominate for nearly two centuries until the Romantics. The critical and restraining tendency of Malherbe who preached greater technical perfection, and especially greater simplicity and purity in vocabulary and versification, was a sober correction to the luxuriant importation and innovation of

Pierre de Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a " prince of poets". Early life Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of ...

and

La Pléiade La Pléiade () was a group of 16th-century French Renaissance poets whose principal members were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay and Jean-Antoine de Baïf. The name was a reference to another literary group, the original Alexandrian Pleiad ...

, but the lines of praise by

Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (; 1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711), often known simply as Boileau (, ), was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the ...

beginning ''Enfin Malherbe vint'' ("Finally Malherbe arrived") are rendered only partially applicable by Boileau's ignorance of older French poetry. The personal character of Malherbe, whose writings demonstrate a bludgeon-like wit, was far from amiable; the good as well as bad side of Malherbe's theory and practice is excellently described by his contemporary and rival Mathurin Régnier, who was animated against Malherbe, not merely by reason of his own devotion to

Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a "prince of poets". Early life Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of ...

but because of Malherbe's discourtesy towards Régnier's uncle

Philippe Desportes Philippe Desportes or Desports (1546 – 5 October 1606) was a French poet.Jean Balsamo. Philippe Desports (1546-1606) Volume 62 of Actes et colloques. Editor, Contributor, Jean Balsamo. Publisher, Klincksieck, 2000 Biography Philippe Desp ...

, whom the Norman poet had at first distinctly plagiarized. Malherbe's reforms helped to elaborate the kind of verse necessary for the classical tragedy, but his own poetical work is scanty in amount, and for the most part frigid and lacking inspiration. The beautiful ''Consolation a Duperier'', in which occurs the famous line - ''Et, rose, elle a vécu ce que vivent les roses'' - the odes to Marie de' Medici and to

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crow ...

, are the best-remembered of his works. His prose work is much more abundant, not less remarkable for care as to style and expression, and of greater positive value. It consists of some translations of

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

and Seneca, and of a very large number of interesting and admirably written letters, many of which are addressed to Peiresc, the man of science of whom Gassendi has left a delightful

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

life. It also contains a most curious commentary on Desportes, in which Malherbe's minute and carping style of verbal criticism is displayed on the great scale. Malherbe's two most important disciples were François Maynard and

Racan Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan (sometimes mistakenly listed as "marquis de Racan", although he never held this title) (5 February 1589 – 21 January 1670) was a French aristocrat, soldier, poet, dramatist and (original) member of the Aca ...

;

Claude Favre de Vaugelas Claude Favre de Vaugelas (6 January 1585 – 26 February 1650) was a Savoyard grammarian and man of letters. Although a lifelong courtier, Claude Favre was widely known by the name of one of the landed estates he owned as '' seigneur'' of Va ...

is credited with having purified French diction at about the same time.

In popular culture

The Caen-based association football club

Stade Malherbe Caen Stade Malherbe Caen (; commonly known as SM Caen, SMC, or simply Caen) is a French professional football team, based in the city of Caen in Normandy, that competes in the Ligue 2. The club was founded on 17 November 1913 by the merger of ''Cl ...

, founded in 1913, takes its name from the poet.

Bibliography

The chief authorities for the biography of Malherbe are the ''Vie de Malherbe'' by his friend and pupil

, and the long ''Historiette'' which

has devoted to him. The standard edition is ''Oeuvres poétiques'', edited by René Fromilhague and Raymond Lebègue, 1968 . Antoine Adam's popular collection of Malherbe's ''Poésies'', is based on his Pléiade edition, (1982). Secondary sources: ''La Doctrine de Malherbe'', by G Brunot (1891), is a classic . René Fromilhague, ''Malherbe: Technique et création poétique'' (1954). Close readings of major poems appear in David Lee Rubin, ''High Hidden Order: Design and Meaning in the Odes of Malherbe'' (1972), revisited in the appendix to the same author's ''The Knot of Artifice: A Poetic of the French Lyric in the Early 17th Century'' (1981); also see Chapter 1. Claude K. Abraham's ''Enfin Malherbe'' (1971) which focuses on the influence of Malherbe's prosody.

References

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Catholic Encyclopedia article
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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malherbe, Francois de 1555 births 1628 deaths Writers from Caen 17th-century French poets Latin–French translators 16th-century male writers 17th-century French male writers French male poets 16th-century French poets