74
See also: Gargantua and Pantagruel 72–73 ■ Miscellaneous Poems (Marvell) 91 ■
Les Fleurs du mal 165 ■ A Season in Hell 198–203P
ierre Ronsard (1524 –1585)
was the leading light of a
group of French humanist
poets named for the bright Pleiades
star cluster and also for a group
of Alexandrian poets from the 3rd
century bce. The Pléiade sought to
create a French literature equal
to that of Renaissance Italy. They
imitated the genres and forms
of the ancients, and spent much
time refining and defending their
controversial poetic beliefs.A sublime art
Ronsard saw poetry as a sublime
art, rather than merely a courtly
pastime. He was versatile and
innovative, and his poems were
melodious, sensual, and pagan,
despite the fact that he was a cleric
in minor orders. He made important
contributions to the ode (inspired
by the Latin poet Horace and the
Greek Pindar), the sonnet, and
the elegy, and in 1558 became the
official poet in the court of Charles
IX, the king of France. He is best
remembered today for his skillful,
tender love poetry. In the poetrycollection Les Amours de
Cassandre, Ronsard set out to rival
the Italian poet Petrarch. His
devotion to Cassandre is described
with imagery of piercing arrows,
love potions, and poisons, which
Petrarch had also deployed. But in
Ronsard’s hands this imagery is
imbued with sensuality. He often
refers to a desire to be transformed –
for example, into golden droplets, so
that he may fall into his beloved’s
lap, and then into a bull so that he
can carry her away on his back. ■AS IT DID TO THIS
FLOWER THE DOOM
OF AGE WILL BLIGHT
YOUR BEAUTY
LES AMOURS DE CASSANDRE (1552),
PIERRE DE RONSARD
IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
The PléiadeBEFORE
1549 Joachim Du Bellay
sets out the principles of
the Pléiade, promoting the
imitation of classical models
and the revival of archaic and
dialect words, as well as the
invention of new words.AFTER
1555 Taking inspiration from
the Greek poet Callimachus,
Ronsa rd’s Hymns eloquently
celebrate natural phenomena,
such as the sky, as well as
gods and heroes.1576 Jean Antoine de Baïf,
the most learned poet of the
Pléiade and a skilled poetic
experimenter, publishes a
highly original work: Mimes,
Lessons, and Proverbs.1578 Ronsa rd’s Sonnets for
Hélène are full of references to
the suffering of lovers, as well
as to classical myth and fate.I’d like to turn the deepest
of yellows, / Falling, drop by
drop, in a golden shower, /
Into her lap...
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