JULIEN AUGUSTE PELAGE

See also:

• JULIEN AUGUSTE PELAGE BRIZEUX (1803-1858)

BRIZEUX (1803-1858)  , French poet, was born at Lorient (Morbihan) on the 12th of September 1803 . He belonged to a family of Irish origin, long settled in Brittany, and was educated for the law, but in 1827 he produced at the Theatre Francais a one-act verse comedy, Racine, in collaboration with Philippe Busoni . A journey to Italy in company with Auguste Barbier made a great impression on him, and a second visit (1834) resulted in 1841 in the publication of a complete translation of the Diving Commedia in terza rims . With Primel el Nola (1852) he included poems written under Italian influence, entitled Les Ternaires (1841), but in the rustic idyl of Marie (1836) turned to Breton country life; in Les Bretons (1845) he found his inspiration in the folklore and legends of his native province, and in Telen-Aroor (1844) he used the Breton dialect . His Histoires poetiques (1855) was crowned by the French Academy . His work is small in bulk, but is characterized by simplicity and sincerity.° Brizeux was an ardent student of the philology and archaeology of Brittany, and had collected materials for a dictionary of Breton place-names He died at Montpellier on the 3rd of May 1858 . His 'Mimes completes (2 vols., 186o) were edited with a notice of the author by Saint-Rene Taillandier . Another edition appeared in 188o–1884 (4 vols.) . A long list of articles on his work may be consulted in an exhaustive monograph, Brizeux; sa vie et ses oeuvres (1898), by the abbe C . Lecigne .