List of poets
who have written in the French language:
A
Céline Arnauld (1885-1952)
*
Louise-Victorine Ackermann (1813–1890)
*
Adam de la Halle
Adam de la Halle (1245–50 – 1285–8/after 1306) was a French poet-composer '' trouvère''. Among the few medieval composers to write both monophonic and polyphonic music, in this respect he has been considered both a conservative and pro ...
(v.1250 – v.1285)
*
Dominique Aguessy (1937– )
*
Pierre Albert-Birot (1876–1967)
*
Anne-Marie Albiach (1937–2012)
*
Pierre Alféri (1963)
*
Marc Alyn (1937)
*
Catherine d'Amboise (1475–1550)
*
Jean Amrouche (1906–1962)
*
Guillaume Apollinaire
Guillaume Apollinaire (; ; born Kostrowicki; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Poland, Polish descent.
Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...
(1880–1918)
*
Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...
(1897–1982)
*
Jacques Arnold (1912–1995)
*
Hans Arp
Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (; ; 16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist.
Early life
Arp was born Hans Peter Wilhelm Ar ...
(1887–1966)
*
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Maria Joseph Paul Artaud (; ; 4September 18964March 1948), better known as Antonin Artaud, was a French artist who worked across a variety of media. He is best known for his writings, as well as his work in the theatre and cinema. Widely ...
(1896–1948)
*
Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné (1552–1630)
*
Jacques Audiberti (1899–1965)
*
Pierre Autin-Grenier (1947–2014)
B
*
Jean-Antoine de Baïf (1532–1589)
*
Luisa Ballesteros Rosas (born 1957)
*
Théodore de Banville
Théodore Faullain de Banville (; 14 March 1823 – 13 March 1891) was a French poet and writer. His work was influential on the Symbolist movement in French literature in the late 19th century.
Biography
Banville was born in Moulins in Allier ...
(1823–1891)
*
Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly (1807–1889)
*
Henri Auguste Barbier (1805–1882)
*
Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972)
*
Linda Maria Baros (1981)
*
Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544–1590)
*
Henry Bataille (1872–1922)
*
Henry Bauchau (1913–2012)
*
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...
(1821–1867)
*
Marcel Béalu (1908–1993)
*
Philippe Beck (1963)
*
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...
(1906–1989)
*
Joachim du Bellay (1522–1560)
*
Rémy Belleau (1528–1577)
*
Charles Beltjens (1832–1890)
*
Tahar Ben Jelloun (1944)
*
Isaac de Benserade (1612–1691)
*
Annie Bentoiu (1927–2015)
*
Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780–1857)
*
Christian Bernard (1950)
*
Béroul (12th century)
*
Louky Bersianik
Louky Bersianik (14 November 1930 – 3 December 2011) was the pen name of Lucile Durand, a French-Canadian novelist.
She studied French literature at the Université de Montréal, the University of Paris, Sorbonne, and the Centre d'études de ra ...
(1965)
*
Aloysius Bertrand (1807–1841)
*
Gérard Bessière
Gérard Bessière (; 27 January 1928 – 8 December 2024) was a French diarist, poet, priest of the Diocese of Cahors, onetime national chaplain for the teaching staff of university parish, journalist of the weekly magazine '' La Vie'', and aut ...
(1928)
*
Maurice Blanchot (1907–2003)
*
Blondel de Nesle (12th–13th centuries)
*
Christian Bobin (1951–2022)
*
Jean Bodel (1165–1210)
*
Étienne de La Boétie
Étienne or Estienne de La Boétie (; ; 1 November 1530 – 18 August 1563) was a French magistrate, classicist, writer, poet and political theorist, best remembered for his friendship with essayist Michel de Montaigne. His early political trea ...
(1530–1563)
*
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711)
*
Bonaventure Des Périers
Bonaventure des Périers (1544) was a French writer.
Biography
He was born of a noble family at Arnay-le-duc in Burgundy at the end of the fifteenth century.
The circumstances of his education are sketchy, but it is known that he was attache ...
(1500–1544)
*
Yves Bonnefoy (1923–2016)
*
Pétrus Borel (1809–1859)
*
Bertran de Born
Bertran de Born (; 1140s – by 1215) was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the 12th-13th century. He composed love songs (cansos) but was better known for his political songs (sirventes). He ...
(1150–1215 ?)
*
Robert de Boron
Robert de Boron (also spelled in the manuscripts "Roberz", "Borron", "Bouron", "Beron") was a French poet active around the late 12th and early 13th centuries, notable as the reputed author of the poems and ''Merlin''. Although little is known of ...
(12th–13th centuries)
*
Théodore Botrel
Jean-Baptiste-Théodore-Marie Botrel (14 September 1868 – 28 July 1925) was a French singer-songwriter, poet and playwright. He is best known for his popular songs about his native Brittany, of which the most famous is ''La Paimpolaise''. Dur ...
(1868–1925)
*
André du Bouchet
André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the name Andrew and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French language, French-spe ...
(1924–2001)
*
Daniel Boulanger
Daniel Boulanger (24 January 1922 – 27 October 2014) was a French novelist, playwright, poet and screenwriter. He has also played secondary roles in films and was a member of the Académie Goncourt from 1983 until his death. He was born in Comp ...
(1922–2014)
*
Stéphane Bouquet (1967)
*
Joë Bousquet (1897–1950)
*
Georges Brassens (1921–1981)
*
Jacques Brault (1933–2022)
*
André Breton
André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...
(1896–1966)
*
Nicole Brossard (1943)
*
Aristide Bruant (1851–1925)
*
Gace Brulé (c.1160 – after 1213)
*
Andrée Brunin (1937–1993)
*
Michel Butor
Michel Butor (; 14 September 1926 – 24 August 2016) was a French poet, novelist, teacher, essayist, art critic and translator.
Life and work
Michel Marie François Butor was born in Mons-en-Barœul, a suburb of Lille, the third of seven chil ...
(1926–2016)
C
*
Louis Calaferte (1928–1994)
*
Susana Calandrelli (1901–1978)
*
Jean-Pierre Calloc'h (1888–1917)
*
Émile Cammaerts (1878–1953)
*
Côtis-Capel (1915–1986)
*
Placide Cappeau (1808–1877)
*
Adolphe Joseph Carcassonne (1826–1891)
*
Francis Carco (1886–1958)
*
Maurice Carême (1899–1978)
*
Jean Cayrol (1911–2005)
*
Rose Celli (1895–1982)
*
Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961)
*
Aimé Césaire
Aim̩ Fernand David C̩saire (; ; 26 June 1913 Р17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician from Martinique. He was "one of the founders of the N̩gritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He ...
(1913–2008)
*
Jean Chapelain (1595–1674)
*
Maurice Chappaz (1916–2009)
*
René Char (1907–1988)
*
Alain Chartier (1385–1430)
*
François-René de Chateaubriand
François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who influenced French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from Bri ...
(1768–1848)
*
Malcolm de Chazal (1902–1981)
*
Andrée Chedid (1920–2011)
*
Charles-Julien Lioult de Chênedollé (1769–1833)
*
François Cheng (1929)
*
André Chénier (1762–1794)
*
Jacques Chessex (1934–2009)
*
Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...
(c.1135 – c.1183)
*
Paul Claudel
Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism.
Early lif ...
(1868–1955)
*
William Cliff (1940)
*
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
(1889–1963)
*
Gabrielle de Coignard (1550–1586)
*
Louise Colet (1810–1876)
*
Danielle Collobert (1940–1978)
*
Claude Confortès (1928–2016)
*
Conon de Béthune (c.1150 – 1220)
*
Benoît Conort (1956)
*
François Coppée (1842–1908)
*
Tristan Corbière
Tristan Corbière (18 July 1845 – 1 March 1875), born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean (now part of Morlaix) in Brittany, where he lived most of his life before dying of tuberculosis at the age of ...
(1845–1875)
*
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine.
As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage ...
(1606–1684)
*
Charles Cotin (1604–1681)
*
Gaston Couté
Gaston Couté (23 September 1880 – 28 June 1911) was a French poet and singer, known for his pacifist and anarchist texts.
Biography
Couté was the son of a miller and went to the lycée Pothier in Orléans, but left before taking the bacca ...
(1880–1911)
*
Watriquet de Couvin (active 1319–1329)
*
Octave Crémazie (1827–1879)
*
René Crevel (1900–1935)
*
Charles Cros (1842–1888)
D
*
Jean Daive (1941)
*
Léon-Gontran Damas (1914–1978)
*
René Daumal (1908–1944)
*
François David (1870–1939)
*
Anne-Marie de Backer (1908–1987)
*
Lise Deharme (1898–1979)
*
Lucie Delarue-Mardrus (1880–1945)
*
Yanette Delétang-Tardif (1902–1976)
*
Jacques Delille (1738–1813)
*
René Depestre (1926)
*
Tristan Derème (1889–1941)
*
Paul Déroulède (1846–1914)
*
Maryline Desbiolles (1959)
*
Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786–1859)
*
Émile Deschamps (1791–1871)
*
Eustache Deschamps
Eustache Deschamps (13461406 or 1407) was a French poet, byname Morel, in French "Nightshade".
Life and career
Deschamps was born in Vertus. He received lessons in versification from Guillaume de Machaut and later studied law at Orleans Universi ...
(1346–1406)
*
Robert Desnos
Robert Desnos (; 4 July 1900 – 8 June 1945) was a French poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement.
Early life
Robert Desnos was born in Paris on 4 July 1900, the son of a licensed dealer in game and poultry at the '' Halles'' ma ...
(1900–1945)
*
Philippe Desportes (1546–1606)
*
Jean-Pierre Desthuilliers (1939–2013)
*
Bruno Destrée (1867–1919)
*
Léon Deubel (1879–1913)
*
Souéloum Diagho
*
Mohammed Dib (1920–2003)
*
David Diop (1927–1960)
*
Charles Dobzynski (1929–2014)
*
Jean Dorat (1508–1588)
*
Hélène Dorion (1958)
*
Christian Dotremont (1922–1979)
*
Minou Drouet (1947)
*
Caroline Dubois (1960)
*
Bernard Dubourg (1945–1992)
*
Georges Duhamel (1884–1966)
*
Jacques Dupin (1927–2012)
*
Jean-Pierre Duprey (1930–1959)
*
Marie Dauguet (1860–1942)
E
*
Paul Éluard (1895–1952)
*
Claude Esteban (1935–2006)
F
*
Nabile Farès (1940–2016)
*
Léon-Paul Fargue (1876–1947)
*
Jean-Pierre Faye
Jean-Pierre Faye (born 19 July 1925) is a French philosopher and writer of fiction and prose poetry.
Life and career
Faye was born in Paris. He was member of the editing committee of the avant-garde literary review '' Tel Quel'', and later of ' ...
(1925)
*
Léo Ferré
Léo Ferré (; 24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a Monégasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer. He released some forty albums over this period, composing the music and the majority of the lyrics. He released ...
(1916–1993)
*
Jean Follain (1903–1971)
*
Xavier Forneret (1809–1884)
*
Paul Fort (1872–1960)
*
Marie de France (1154–1189)
*
Martin Le Franc
Martin le Franc ( – 1461) was a French poet of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.
Life and career
He was born in Normandy, and studied in Paris. He entered clerical orders, becoming an prothonotary, apostolic prothonotary, and later bec ...
(1410–1461)
*
Frankétienne (1936)
*
Pauline Fréchette (1889–1943)
*
André Frédérique (1915–1957)
*
Jean Froissart (v.1337-v.1410)
G
*
Pierre Gabriel (1926–1994)
*
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...
(1928–1991)
*
Augièr Galhard (16th-century)
*
Pierre Gamarra (1919–2009)
*
Joachim Gasquet (1873–1921)
*
Armand Gatti (1924–2017)
*
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic.
While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...
(1811–1872)
*
Jean Genet
Jean Genet (; ; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels '' The Th ...
(1910–1986)
*
Amélie Gex (1835–1883)
*
Henri Ghéon (1875–1644)
*
Roger Gilbert-Lecomte (1907–1943)
*
Iwan Gilkin (1858–1924)
*
Roger Giroux (1925–1974)
*
Jean-Marie Gleize (1946)
*
Edouard Glissant (1928–2011)
*
Guy Goffette (1947)
*
Claire Goll (1890–1977)
*
Yvan Goll (1891–1950)
*
Jean Ogier de Gombauld (1576–1666)
*
Remy de Gourmont
Remy de Gourmont (4 April 1858 – 27 September 1915) was a French symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars and Georges Bataille. The spelling ''Rémy'' de Go ...
(1858–1915)
*
Xavier Grall (1930–1981)
*
Benoît Gréan
*
Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (1709–1777)
*
Jacques Grévin (1538–1570)
*
Jean Grosjean (1912–2006)
*
Maurice de Guérin (1810–1839)
*
Georges Guillain
Georges Charles Guillain () (3 March 1876 – 29 June 1961) was a French neurologist born in Rouen.
He studied medicine in Rouen and Paris, where he learned clinical education at several hospitals. He developed an interest in neurology, and his f ...
(1876–1961)
*
Guillaume de Lorris (c.1200 – c.1238)
*
Pernette du Guillet (1520–1545)
*
Eugène Guillevic (1907–1997)
H
*
Adam de la Halle
Adam de la Halle (1245–50 – 1285–8/after 1306) was a French poet-composer '' trouvère''. Among the few medieval composers to write both monophonic and polyphonic music, in this respect he has been considered both a conservative and pro ...
(1237–1288)
*
Anne Hébert (1916–2000)
*
Markus Hediger (1959)
*
Bernard Heidsieck (1928–2014)
*
Georges Henein (1914–1973)
*
José-Maria de Heredia (1842–1905)
*
Antoine Héroet (d. 1567)
*
Emmanuel Hocquard (1940-2019)
*
Michel Houellebecq
Michel Houellebecq (; born Michel Thomas on 26 February 1956) is a French author of novels, poems, and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker, and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. H ...
(1958)
*
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.
His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
(1802–1885)
*
Marie Huot (1965)
I
*
Jacques Izoard (1936–2008)
J
*
Edmond Jabès (1912–1991)
*
Philippe Jaccottet (1925–2021)
*
Max Jacob (1876–1944)
*
Francis Jammes
Francis Jammes (; 2 December 1868, in Tournay, Hautes-Pyrénées, Tournay – 1 November 1938, in Hasparren) was a French and European poet. He spent most of his life in his native region of Béarn and the Northern Basque Country, Basque Country ...
(1868–1938)
*
Amadis Jamyn (1538–1592)
*
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry (; ; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French Artistic symbol, symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896)'','' often cited as a forerunner of the Dada, Surrealism, Surrealist, and Futurism, Futurist ...
(1873–1907)
*
Sandra Jayat (c.1939)
*
Georges Jean
Georges Jean (16 September 1920 – 19 December 2011) was a French poet and essayist specializing in the fields of linguistics, semiology and children's literature.
Career
Georges Jean was born in Besançon, after studying philosophy, he enter ...
(1920–2011)
*
Jean de Meung (1250 – c.1305)
*
Étienne Jodelle (1532–1573)
*
Jean Joubert (1928–2015)
*
Jacques Jouet (1947)
*
Alain Jouffroy (1928–2015)
*
Pierre Jean Jouve (1887–1976)
*
Charles Juliet (1934)
K
*
Gustave Kahn
Gustave Kahn (21 December 1859, in Metz – 5 September 1936, in Paris) was a French language, French Symbolism (arts), Symbolist poet and art critic. He was also active, via publishing and essay-writing, in defining Symbolism and distinguishin ...
(1859–1936)
*
Kama Sywor Kamanda (1952)
*
Abdelkebir Khatibi (1938–2009)
*
Vénus Khoury-Ghata (1937)
*
Tristan Klingsor (1874–1966)
*
Anise Koltz (1928–2023)
*
Petr Kral (1941–2020)
*
Seyhan Kurt (1971)
L
*
Abdellatif Laâbi (1942)
*
Louise Labé (1524–1566)
*
Pierre Labrie (1972)
*
Jacques Lacarrière (1925–2005)
*
Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine (, ; ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French Fable, fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''La Fontaine's Fables, Fables'', which provided a model for subs ...
(1621–1695)
*
Jules Laforgue (1860–1887)
*
Jean Lahor (1840–1909)
*
Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869)
*
Bernard de La Monnoye
Bernard de La Monnoye (15 June 1641, in Dijon – 15 October 1728) was a French people, French lawyer, poet, philology, philologue and critic, known chiefly for his Christmas carol, carol ''Noei borguignon'' (''Bourgogne, Borguignon Christmas'').
...
(1641–1728)
*
Jane de La Vaudère (1857–1908)
*
Valery Larbaud (1881–1957)
*
Josaphat-Robert Large (1942–2017)
*
Rina Lasnier (1910–1997)
*
Isidore Ducasse, comte de Lautréamont (1846–1870)
*
Pierre-Antoine Lebrun (1785–1873)
*
Félix Leclerc (1914–1988)
*
Leconte de Lisle (1818–1894)
*
Michel Leiris (1901–1990)
*
Jean Lemaire de Belges (1473–1520)
*
Charles Le Quintrec (1926–2008)
*
Jean-François Leriget de La Faye (1674–1731)
*
Alain Le Roux (c. 1040 – 1093)
*
Hervé Le Tellier (1957)
*
Henry Jean-Marie Levet (1874–1906)
*
Tristan L'Hermite
:''See also François Tristan l'Hermite''
Tristan l'Hermite (died ) was a French political and military figure of the late Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to ...
(1601–1655)
*
Liska (1956–2011)
*
Guillaume de Lorris (1200–1240)
*
Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925)
*
Mary Stanley Low (1912–2007)
*
Ghérasim Luca (1913–1994)
*
Jean-Pierre Luminet
Jean-Pierre Luminet (born 3 June 1951) is a French astrophysicist, specializing in black holes and cosmology. He is an emeritus research director at the CNRS ( Centre national de la recherche scientifique). Luminet is a member of the Laboratoir ...
(1951)
M
*
Guillaume de Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut (, ; also Machau and Machault; – April 1377) was a French composer and poet who was the central figure of the style in late medieval music. His dominance of the genre is such that modern musicologists use his death to ...
(1300–1377)
*
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...
(1862–1949)
*
François de Malherbe (1555–1628)
*
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French Symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools o ...
(1842–1898)
*
Pierre de Marbeuf (1595–1645)
*
Clément Marot
Clément Marot (23 November 1496 – 12 September 1544) was a French Renaissance poet. He was influenced by the writers of the late 15th century and paved the way for the Pléiade, and is undoubtedly the most important poet at the court of Fr ...
(1495–1544)
*
Jean Marot
Jean Marot (; Mathieu, near Caen, 1463 – c. 1526) was a French poet of the late 15th and early 16 century and the father of the French Renaissance poet Clément Marot. He is often grouped with the " Grands Rhétoriqueurs". Jean Marot seems ...
(1450–1526)
*
Anne de Marquets (1533–1588)
*
Fabien Marsaud (born 1977)
*
Charles Maurras (1868–1952)
*
Catulle Mendès (1841–1909)
*
Élisa Mercœur (1809–1835)
*
Thierry Metz (1956–1997)
*
Jean de Meun (1240–1304)
*
Henri Michaux (1899–1984)
*
Jean Michel (c. 1435–1501)
*
Jean Moréas (1856–1910)
*
Hégésippe Moreau (1810–1838)
*
Camille de Morel
*
Colin Muset
*
Alfred de Musset
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (; 11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.His names are often reversed "Louis Charles Alfred de Musset": see "(Louis Charles) Alfred de Musset" (bio), Biography.com, 2007 ...
(1810–1857)
N
*
Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549)
*
Émile Nelligan (1879–1941)
*
Gérard de Nerval
Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855), the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, was a French essayist, poet, translator, and travel writer. He was a major figure during the era of French romantici ...
(1808–1855)
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René de Obaldia (1918–2022)
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Charles, duc d'Orléans (1394–1465)
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Évariste de Parny (1753–1814)
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Charles Péguy (1873–1914)
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Benjamin Péret (1899–1959)
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Louis Pergaud (1882–1915)
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Saint-John Perse (1887–1975)
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Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan or Pisan (, ; born Cristina da Pizzano; September 1364 – ), was an Italian-born French court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French royal dukes, in both prose and poetry.
Christine de Pizan served as a cour ...
(1364–c. 1430)
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Francis Ponge (1899–1988)
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Jacques Prévert
Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the Poetic realism, poetic ...
(1900–1977)
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Guiot de Provins
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Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907)
Q
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Raymond Queneau (1903–1976)
R
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Nicolas Rapin (1535–1608)
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Henri de Régnier (1864–1936)
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Pierre Reverdy (1889–1960)
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Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891)
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Jules Romains
Jules Romains (born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule; 26 August 1885 – 14 August 1972) was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement. His works include the play '' Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine'', and a cyc ...
(1885–1972)
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Pierre de Ronsard
Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet known in his generation as a "Prince des poètes, prince of poets". His works include ''Les Amours de Cassandre'' (1552)'','' ''Les Hymnes'' (1555-1556)'', Les Disco ...
(1524–1585)
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Claude Royet-Journoud (1941)
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Jaufré Rudel (1113–1170)
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Rutebeuf (1245–1285)
S
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Janou Saint-Denis (1930–2000)
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Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau (1912–1943)
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Mellin de Saint-Gelais
Mellin de Saint-Gelais (or ''Melin de Saint-Gelays'' or ''Sainct-Gelais''; c. 1491 – October 1558) was a French poet of the Renaissance and Poet Laureate of Francis I of France.
Life
He was born at Angoulême, most likely the natural ...
(1491–1558)
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Jean François de Saint-Lambert (1716–1803)
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Benoît de Sainte-Maure
Benoît de Sainte-Maure (; died 1173) was a 12th-century French poet, most probably from Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine near Tours, France. The Plantagenets' administrative center was located in Chinon, west of Tours.
''Le Roman de Troie''
His 40,000 ...
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André Salmon
André Salmon (4 October 1881, Paris – 12 March 1969, Sanary-sur-Mer) was a French poet, art critic and writer. He was one of the early defenders of Cubism, with Guillaume Apollinaire and Maurice Raynal.
Biography
André Salmon was born i ...
(1881–1969)
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Albert Samain (1858–1900)
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Henriette Sauret (1890–1976)
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Paul Scarron (1610–1660)
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Maurice Scève (1501–1564)
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Georges Schehadé (1907–1989)
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Pierre Seghers (1906–1987)
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Léopold Senghor (1906–2001)
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Louisa Siefert (1845–1877)
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Dominique Sorrente (born 1953)
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Gabrielle Soumet (1814–1886)
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Philippe Soupault
Philippe Soupault (2 August 1897 – 12 March 1990) was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He was active in Dadaism and later was instrumental in founding the Surrealist movement with André Breton. Soupault ini ...
(1897–1990)
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André Spire (1868–1966)
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Jules Supervielle (1884–1960)
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Taillefer (1001–1066)
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Jean de La Taille (1535–1608)
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Jean Tardieu (1903–1995)
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Esther Tellermann (1947)
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Thomas of Britain
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Khal Torabully (born 1956)
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Julien Torma (1902–1933)
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Paul-Jean Toulet (1867–1920)
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Roland Michel Tremblay (born 1972)
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Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...
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Doete de Troyes (1220-1265)
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Pontus de Tyard (1521–1605)
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Tristan Tzara
Tristan Tzara (; ; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, c ...
(1896–1963)
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Paul Valéry
Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher.
In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, m ...
(1871–1945)
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Jean-Pierre Vallotton (born 1955)
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Léonise Valois (1868–1936)
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Jean Venturini
Jean Venturini (17 September 1919 – 17 June 1940) was a French poet and sailor. He died at the age of 20 during the Second World War when his submarine was lost in the Mediterranean Sea.
Biography
Jean Venturini was born in Nabeul, Tunisia, ...
(1919–1940)
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Serge Venturini (born 1955)
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Emile Verhaeren (1855–1916)
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Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine ( ; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...
(1844–1896)
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Francis Viélé-Griffin (1864–1937)
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Boris Vian (1920–1959)
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Claude Vigée (1921–2020)
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Alfred de Vigny
Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (; 27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French poet and early French Romanticism, Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare.
Biography
Vigny was born in Loches (a town to wh ...
(1797–1863)
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François Villon (1431–1463)
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Roger Vitrac (1899–1952)
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Vincent Voiture (1597–1648)
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Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
(1694–1778)
See also
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Other French poets in the French Wikipedia
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French literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...
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Francophone literature
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List of French-language authors
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List of French novelists
This is a list of novelists from France. Novelists in this list should be notable in some way, and have Wikipedia articles on them.
''See also :French novelists, French novelists Category Index.''
Born before 1800
*Antoine de la Sale (1385-14 ...
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List of French people
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Lists of Canadians
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:French-language poets
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Lists of poets by language
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