Jean Passerat (18 October 153414 September 1602) was a 16th-century French political satirist and

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Life

Passerat was born at

Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...

, on 18 October 1534. He studied at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, and is said to have had some curious adventures at one time working in a mine. He was, however, a scholar by natural taste, and became eventually a teacher at the Collège de Plessis, and on the death of Ramus was made professor of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

in 1572 in the Collège de France. In the meanwhile Passerat had studied law, and had composed much agreeable poetry in the Pléiade style, the best pieces being his short ode ''Du Premier jour de mai'' and the

villanelle A villanelle, also known as villanesque,Kastner 1903 p. 279 is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third lines of the first tercet re ...

whose first line is ''J'ay perdu ma tourterelle''. The nonce form of the latter poem was eventually imitated by many nineteenth- and twentieth-century poets. Passerat's exact share in the '' Satire Ménippée'' (

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

, 1594), the great manifesto of the ''politique'' or Moderate Royalist party when it had declared itself for Henry of Navarre, is unknown; but it is agreed that he wrote most of the verse, and the harangue of the

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

chief Rieux is sometimes attributed to him. The famous ''Sur la journée de Senlis'', which commends the duc d'Aumale's ability in running away, is one of the most celebrated political songs in French. Towards the end of his life Passerat became blind. He died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 14 September 1602.

Work

Passerat published "Nihil", a poem in Latin in 1588.Joseph M. Victor - Charles de Bovelles, 1479-1553: An Intellectual Biography 1978 2600030735- Page 139 "Jean Passerat, a French poet of the sixteenth century, published a Latin poem entitled Nihil at Paris in 1588 and many other editions appeared in the following years. Indeed, there existed a whole tradition of French Latin and vernacular poetry ."

"Villanelle"

:Villanelle :I'ay perdu ma Tourterelle: :Eft-ce point celle que i'oy? :Ie veus aller aprés elle. :Tu regretes ta femelle, :Helas! außi fai-ie moy, :I'ay perdu ma Tourterelle. :Si ton Amour eft fidelle, :Außi est ferme ma foy, :Ie veus aller aprés elle. :Ta plainte fe renouuelle; :Toufiours plaindre ie me doy: :I'ay perdu ma Tourterelle. :En ne voyant plus la belle :Plus rien de beau ie ne voy: :Ie veus aller aprés elle. :Mort, que tant de fois i'appelle, :Pren ce qui fe donne à toy: :I'ay perdu ma Tourterelle, :Ie veus aller aprés ell. Jean Passerat. ''Recueil des oeuvres poétiques de Ian Passerat augmenté de plus de la moitié, outre les précédentes impressions.'' d. Jean de Rougevalet.Paris: Morel, 1606. 344-5.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Passerat, Jean 17th-century French poets 17th-century French male writers People from Troyes 1534 births 1602 deaths People from Champagne (province)