François Coppée
Encyclopedia
François Edouard Joachim Coppée (26 January 1842 – 23 May 1908) was a French
poet
and novelist.
to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis
he became a clerk in the ministry of war, and won public favour as a poet of the Parnassian school. His first printed verses date from 1864. In 1869 his first play, Le Passant, was received with approval at the Odéon theatre, and later Fais ce que dois (1871) and Les Bijoux de la délivrance (1872), short poetic dramas inspired by the Franco-Prussian War
, were applauded.
After holding a post in the library of the senate, Coppée was chosen in 1878 as archivist of the Comédie Française, an office he held till 1884. In that year his election to the Académie française
caused him to retire from all public appointments. He was made an officer of the Legion of Honour in 1888.
Coppée was famed as le poète des humbles (the poet of the humble). His verse and prose focus on plain expressions of emotion, patriotism, the joy of young love, and the pitifulness of the poor. He continued to write plays, mostly serious dramas in verse, two in collaboration with Armand d'Artois. The performance of a short episode of the Commune, Le Pater, was prohibited by the government in 1889. Coppée published his first prose work in 1875 and went on to publish short stories, an autobiography of his youth, a series of short articles on miscellaneous subjects, and La Bonne Souffrance, a popular account of his reconversion to the Roman Catholic Church
.
His conversion was due to a severe illness which twice brought him close to death. He was also interested with public affairs, joining the most violent section of the Nationalist movement (while remaining contemptuous of the apparatus of democracy) and taking a leading part against Alfred Dreyfus
in the Dreyfus affair
. He was one of the founders of the Ligue de la Patrie Française.
The poet Arthur Rimbaud
, a young contemporary of Coppée, published numerous parodies of Coppée's poetry. Rimbaud's parodies were published in L'Album Zutique (in 1871? 1872?). Most of these poems parody the style ("chatty comfortable rhymes" that were "the delight of the enlightened bourgeois of the day") and form (Alexandrine
couplets arranged in ten line verses) of some short poems by Coppée (examples can be found in the collection Promenades et Intérieurs). Rimbaud published them under the name François Coppée.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and novelist.
Biography
He was born in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis
Lycée Saint-Louis
The lycée Saint-Louis is a higher education establishment located in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, in the Latin Quarter. It is the only public French lycée exclusively dedicated to classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles...
he became a clerk in the ministry of war, and won public favour as a poet of the Parnassian school. His first printed verses date from 1864. In 1869 his first play, Le Passant, was received with approval at the Odéon theatre, and later Fais ce que dois (1871) and Les Bijoux de la délivrance (1872), short poetic dramas inspired by the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, were applauded.
After holding a post in the library of the senate, Coppée was chosen in 1878 as archivist of the Comédie Française, an office he held till 1884. In that year his election to the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
caused him to retire from all public appointments. He was made an officer of the Legion of Honour in 1888.
Coppée was famed as le poète des humbles (the poet of the humble). His verse and prose focus on plain expressions of emotion, patriotism, the joy of young love, and the pitifulness of the poor. He continued to write plays, mostly serious dramas in verse, two in collaboration with Armand d'Artois. The performance of a short episode of the Commune, Le Pater, was prohibited by the government in 1889. Coppée published his first prose work in 1875 and went on to publish short stories, an autobiography of his youth, a series of short articles on miscellaneous subjects, and La Bonne Souffrance, a popular account of his reconversion to the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
His conversion was due to a severe illness which twice brought him close to death. He was also interested with public affairs, joining the most violent section of the Nationalist movement (while remaining contemptuous of the apparatus of democracy) and taking a leading part against Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer of Jewish background whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most tense political dramas in modern French and European history...
in the Dreyfus affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
. He was one of the founders of the Ligue de la Patrie Française.
The poet Arthur Rimbaud
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
, a young contemporary of Coppée, published numerous parodies of Coppée's poetry. Rimbaud's parodies were published in L'Album Zutique (in 1871? 1872?). Most of these poems parody the style ("chatty comfortable rhymes" that were "the delight of the enlightened bourgeois of the day") and form (Alexandrine
Alexandrine
An alexandrine is a line of poetic meter comprising 12 syllables. Alexandrines are common in the German literature of the Baroque period and in French poetry of the early modern and modern periods. Drama in English often used alexandrines before Marlowe and Shakespeare, by whom it was supplanted...
couplets arranged in ten line verses) of some short poems by Coppée (examples can be found in the collection Promenades et Intérieurs). Rimbaud published them under the name François Coppée.
Poetry
- Le Reliquaire (1866)
- Intimités (1867)
- Poémes modernes (1867-9)
- Les Humbles (1872)
- Le Cahier rouge (1874)
- Olivier (1875)
- L'Exilée (1876)
- Contes en vers (1881)
- Poèmes et récits (1886)
- Arrière-saison (1887)
- Paroles sincères (1890)
- Dans la prière et la lutte
- Vers français
Plays
- Le Passant (1869) (translated into Portuguese by Alves Crespo (playwright, 1847-1907) as Sonho and published in 1905)
- Deux Douleurs (1870)
- Fais Ce Que Dois (1871)
- L'Abandonnée (1871)
- Les Bijoux De La Délivrance (1872)
- Le Rendez-Vous (1872)
- Prologue D'Ouverture Pour Les Matinées De La Gaîté (1874)
- Le Luthier de Crémone (1876)
- Le Guerre de Cent Ans (1877)
- Le Tresor (1879)
- La Bataille D'Hernani (1880)
- La Maison De Moliére (1880)
- Madame de Maintenon (1881)
- Severo Torelli (1883)(translated into Portuguese by Jaime Victor and Macedo Papança, Visconde de MOnsaraz and performed in Lisbon, at the National Theatre, in 1887; published in the same year).
- Les Jacobites (1885)
- Le Pater (1889)(translated into Portuguese by Margarida de Sequeira as O Pater)
- Pour la couronne (1895) (translated into English by John DavidsonJohn Davidson (poet)John Davidson was a Scottish poet, playwright and novelist, best known for his ballads. He also did translations from French and German...
as For the Crown and performed in London, 1896)
Prose works
- Une Idylle pendant le siège (187)
- Toute une jeunesse (1890)
- Les Vrais riches (1892)
- Le Coupable (1896)
- Mon franc-parler (1893-96) (articles)
- La Bonne Souffrance (1898)