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JACQUES JASMIN (1798-1864)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 277 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JACQUES See also:

JASMIN (1798-1864)  , Provencal poet, was See also:born at See also:Agen on the 6th of See also:March 1798, his See also:family name being Boe . His See also:father, who was a tailor, had a certain facility for making doggerel verses, which he sang or recited at fairs and such-like popular gatherings; and Jacques, who used generally to accompany him, was thus See also:early familiarized with the See also:part which he afterwards so successfully filled himself . When sixteen years of See also:age he found employment at a hairdresser's See also:shop, and subsequently started a similar business of his own on the Gravier at Agen . In 1825 he published his first See also:volume of Papillotos (" Curl Papers "), containing poems in See also:French (a See also:language he used with a certain sense of See also:restraint), and in the See also:familiar Agen See also:patois—the popular speech of the working classes—in which he was to achieve all his See also:literary triumphs . See also:Jasmin was the most famous forerunner in Provencal literature (q.v.) of See also:Mistral and the Felibrige . His See also:influence in rehabilitating, for literary purposes, his native See also:dialect, was particularly exercised in the public recitals of his poems to which he devoted himself . His poetic See also:gift, and his flexible See also:voice and See also:action, fitted him admirably for this See also:double role of See also:troubadour and jongleur . In 1835 he recited his " See also:Blind Girl of See also:Castel-Cuille " at See also:Bordeaux, in 1836 at See also:Toulouse; and he met with an enthusiastic reception in both those important cities . Most of his public recitations were given for benevolent purposes, the proceeds being contributed by him to the restoration of the See also:church of Vergt and other See also:good See also:works . Four successive volumes of Papillotos were published during his lifetime, and contained amongst others the following remarkable poems, quoted in See also:order: " The See also:Charivari," " My Recollections " (supplemented after an See also:interval of many years), " The Blind Girl," " Francounetto," " Martha the See also:Simple," and " The Twin See also:Brothers." With the exception of " The Charivari," these are all touching pictures of humble See also:life—in most cases real episodes—carefully elaborated by the poet till the graphic descriptions, full of See also:light and See also:colour, and the admirably varied and melodious See also:verse, seem too spontaneous and easy to have cost an effort . Jasmin was not a prolific writer, and, in spite of his impetuous nature, would See also:work a See also:long See also:time at one poem, striving to realize every feeling he wished to describe, and give it its most lucid and natural expression . A verse from his spirited poem, "The Third of May," written in See also:honour of See also:Henry IV., and published in the first volume of Papillotos, is engraved on the See also:base of the statue erected to that See also:king at See also:Nerac .

In 1852 Jasmin's works were crowned by the Academie Francaise, and a See also:

pension was awarded him . The See also:medal struck on the occasion See also:bore the inscription: Au poete moral et populaire . His See also:title of " See also:Maistre es Jeux" is a distinction only conferred by the See also:academy of Toulouse on illustrious writers . See also:Pius IX. sent him the insignia of a See also:knight of St See also:Gregory the See also:Great, and he was made See also:chevalier of the See also:Legion of Honour . He spent the latter years of his life on a small See also:estate which he had bought near Agen and named " Papillotos," and which he describes in Ma Bigno (" My See also:Vine ") . Though invited to represent his native See also:city, he refused to do so, preferring the pleasures and leisure of a See also:country life, and wisely judging that he was no really eligible See also:candidate for electoral honours . He died on the 4th of See also:October 1864 . His last poem, an See also:answer to Henan, was placed between his folded hands in his See also:coffin .

End of Article: JACQUES JASMIN (1798-1864)
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