Pierre Martin Victor Richard de Laprade (January 13, 1812 - December 13, 1883), known as Victor de Laprade, was a French

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 critic

Critic

A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...

.

Biography

He was born at Montbrison, Loire

Montbrison, Loire

Montbrison is a commune in the Loire department in central France.The commune gives its name to the popular blue cheese Fourme de Montbrison which has been made in the region for centuries.-History:...

, of a modest provincial family. After completing his studies at Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, he produced, in 1839, a small volume of religious verse, Les Parfums de Madeleine. This was followed in 1840 by La colère de Jesus, in 1841 by the religious fantasy of Psyche, and in 1844 by Odes et poèmes. In 1845 Laprade visited Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 on a mission of literary research, and in 1847 he was appointed professor of French literature

French literature

French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...

 at Lyon. 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,...

, by a single vote, preferred Émile Augier

Émile Augier

Guillaume Victor Émile Augier was a French dramatist. He was the thirteenth member to occupy seat 1 of the Académie française on 31 March 1857.-Biography:...

 at the election in 1857, but in the following year Laprade was chosen to fill the place vacated by Alfred de Musset

Alfred de Musset

Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle from 1836.-Biography:Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris...

.

In 1861 Laprade was removed from his post at Lyon owing to the publication of a poem satirising

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 the Second Empire

Second French Empire

The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...

 (Les Musées d'Etat), and in 1871 was elected to the National Assembly as a conservative. A statue was erected in his memory at Montbrison.

Besides those named above, Laprade's poetic works include Poèmes évangéliques (185 2), Idylles héroïques (1858), Les Voix du silence (1864), Pernette (1868), Poèmes civiles (1873), Le Livre d'un père (1877), Varia and Livre des adieux (1878-1879).

His prose works include Des habitudes intellectuelles de l'avocat (1840), Questions d'art et de morale (1861), Le Sentiment de la nature, avant le Christianisme in 1866, Chez les modernes in 1868, and Education libérale in 1873. In some cases these works had been previously printed after delivery as a lecture. He also contributed articles to the Revue des deux mondes

Revue des deux mondes

The Revue des deux Mondes is a French language monthly literary and cultural affairs magazine that has been published in Paris since 1829....

and the Revue de Paris.

Laprade's subject was French provincial life, its culture, its piety, and its sober patriotism

Patriotism

Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...

. His poetry belongs to the school of Chateaubriand and Alphonse de Lamartine

Alphonse de Lamartine

Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...

, imitating classical models, inspired by a sense of the ideal, and worshipping nature as revealing the divine. However, he never attained a great level of popularity. His work has much in common with the English Lake School.

Laprade's prose criticisms consist of classical and metaphysical

Metaphysics

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...

 studies, as well as wide-ranging commentary on European literature. He disliked irony

Irony

Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...

 and skepticism

Skepticism

Skepticism has many definitions, but generally refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere...

, which probably lead him to underrate 18th-century literature.