Online Encyclopedia

PHILIPPE DESPORTES (1546-1606)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 103 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

PHILIPPE

DESPORTES (1546-1606)  , French poet, was born at
See also:
Chartres in 1546 . As secretary to the bishop of Le
See also:
Puy he visited Italy, where he gained a knowledge of
See also:
Italian
See also:
poetry afterwards turned to good account . On his return to France he attached himself to the duke of
See also:
Anjou, and followed him to Warsaw on his election as king of Poland . Nine months in Poland satisfied the civilized Desportes, but in 1574 his
See also:
patron became king of France as Henry III . He showered favours on the poet, who received, in
See also:
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
See also:
light and dainty verse in which Desportes excelled is furnished by the well-known
See also:
villanelle with the refrain " Qui premier s'en repentira," which was on the lips of Henry, duke of Guise, just before his tragic
See also:
death . Desportes was above all an imitator . He imitated Petrarch, Ariosto, Sannazaro, and still more closely the minor Italian poets, and in 16o4 a number of his plagiarisms were exposed in the Rencontres
See also:
des Muses de France et d'Italie . As a sonneteer he showed much grace and sweetness, and
See also:
English poets borrowed freely from him . In his old age Desportes acknowledged his ecclesiastical preferment by a
See also:
translation of the Psalms remembered chiefly for the brutal mot of Malherbe: " Votre potage vaut mieux que vos psaumes." Desportes died on the 5th of
See also:
October 16o6 . He had published in 1573 an edition of his
See also:
works including Diane,
See also:
Les Amours d'Hippolyte, Elegies, Bergeries, fEuvres chretiennes, &c . An edition of his fEuvres, by
See also:
Alfred Michiels, appeared in 1858 .

End of Article: PHILIPPE DESPORTES (1546-1606)
[back]
HUGH LE DESPENSER (d. 1265)
[next]
DESPOT (Gr. Sc-va6rgs, lord or master; the origin o...

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.