- Philippe Desportes
Philippe Desportes (1546 –
5 October 1606 ) was a Frenchpoet .Biography
Philippe Desportes was born in
Chartres . While serving as secretary to thebishop of Le Puy he visitedItaly , where he learned Italian poetry. This experience became a good account. On his return to France he attached himself to the duke of Anjou, and followed him to Cracow on his election asking of Poland . Nine months inPoland satisfied the civilized Desportes, but in 1574 his patron became king of France as Henry III. He showered favours on the poet, who received, in reward for the skill with which he wrote occasional poems at the royal request, the abbey of Tiron and four other valuable benefices.A good example of the light and dainty verse in which Desportes excelled is furnished by the well-known "villanelle" with the refrain "Qui premier s'en repentira," which was on the lips of Henry, duke of Guise, just before his tragic death. Desportes was above all an imitator. He imitated
Petrarch ,Ariosto , Sannazaro, and still more closely the minor Italian poets, and in 1604 a number Of hisplagiarism s were exposed in the "Rencontres des Muses de France et d'Italie". As asonnet eer he showed much grace and sweetness, and English poets borrowed freely from him.In his old age Desportes acknowledged his ecclesiastical preferment by a translation of the
Psalms remembered chiefly for the brutal "mot" of Malherbe: "Votre potage vaut mieux que vos psaumes." He published in 1573 an edition of his works including "Diane", "Les Amours d'Hippolyte", "Elegies", "Bergeries", "Œuvres chrêtiennes", etc.An edition of his "Œuvres", by Alfred Michiels, appeared in 1858.
References
*1911
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