Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (pronounced: [nikɔla bwalo dɛpʁeo]) (1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711) was a French poet and critic.
Boileau did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, as Blaise Pascal did to reform the prose. He was greatly influenced by Horace.
The surname "Despréaux" was derived from a small property at Crosne near Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. He was the fifteenth child of Gilles Boileau, a clerk in the parlement. Two of h...
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Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (pronounced: [nikɔla bwalo dɛpʁeo]) (1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711) was a French poet and critic.
Boileau did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, as Blaise Pascal did to reform the prose. He was greatly influenced by Horace.
The surname "Despréaux" was derived from a small property at Crosne near Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. He was the fifteenth child of Gilles Boileau, a clerk in the parlement. Two of his brothers attained some distinction: Gilles Boileau, the author of a translation of Epictetus; and Jacques Boileau, who became a canon of the Sainte-Chapelle, and made valuable contributions to church history. His mother died when he was two years old; and Nicolas Boileau, who had a delicate constitution, seems to have suffered something from want of care.
Sainte-Beuve puts down his somewhat hard and unsympathetic outlook quite as much to the uninspiring circumstances of these days as to the general character of his time. He cannot be said...
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