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JACQUES 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 early familiarized with the See also: part which he afterwards so successfully filled himself
.
When sixteen years of 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 French (a language he used with a certain sense of restraint), and in the See also: familiar Agen 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 influence in rehabilitating, for literary purposes, his native dialect, was particularly exercised in the public recitals of his poems to which he devoted himself
.
His poetic 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 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 life—in most cases real episodes—carefully elaborated by the poet till the graphic descriptions, full of See also: light and colour, and the admirably varied and melodious 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 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 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 pension was awarded him . The medal struck on the occasionSee also: bore the inscription: Au poete moral et populaire
.
His title of " 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 knight of St See also: Gregory the See also: Great, and he was made chevalier of the See also: Legion of Honour
.
He spent the latter years of his See also: life on a small 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 city, he refused to do so, preferring the pleasures and leisure of a 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 answer to Henan, was placed between his folded hands in his coffin
.
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