Agathe-Sophie Sasserno (3 October 1810 – 6 June 1860) was a French poet. She was born in Nice and spent her life there. Although she wrote in French, she considered herself Italian.
Life
Agathe-Sophie Sasserno was born in 1810 at the place Victor (today the place Garibaldi) in Nice.
She was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Louis Sasserno, a former aide of
André Masséna
André Masséna, Prince of Essling, Duke of Rivoli (born Andrea Massena; 6 May 1758 – 4 April 1817) was a French military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.Donald D. Horward, ed., trans, annotated, The Fre ...
, and Marie Sibille Chartroux.
She was a cousin of the painter
Giovanni Battista Biscarra.
She wrote her first poem at the age of fourteen to distract her father.
According to Jean-Baptiste Toselli, she received much praise for this, which encouraged her to continue.
She remained single all her life and devoted herself entirely to poetry.
Although she wrote in French she considered herself Italian so she dedicated her work ''Les Sylphides'' (1838) to King
Charles Albert of Sardinia
Charles Albert (; 2 October 1798 – 28 July 1849) was the King of Sardinia from 27 April 1831 until 23 March 1849. His name is bound up with the first Italian constitution, the Albertine Statute, and with the First Italian War of Independence ...
.
She later wrote ''Ore meste, chants sur l'Italie'' (1846), and the collection ''Poésies françaises d'une Italienne'' in 1854 for which the critic
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (; 23 December 1804 – 13 October 1869) was a French literary critic.
Early life
He was born in Boulogne, educated there, and studied medicine at the Collège Charlemagne in Paris (1824–27). In 1828, he se ...
wrote the preface.
She was enthusiastic about the ongoing unification of Italy.
In Glorie e Sventure : chants de guerre de l'indépendance italienne'' (1852) she evoked
Anita Garibaldi
Anita Garibaldi (, ; 30 August 1821 – 4 August 1849), born Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro, was a Brazilian republican revolutionary. She was the wife and comrade-in-arms of Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi. Their partnership epitomized ...
.
Her attachment to Nice, which she calls her homeland, is also a recurring theme in her poems.
She writes of it in ''Nice'' (1858) "Oh Nice, oh my country Nice, oh sweet natal soil, oh my Nice so beautiful".
In Tears and Smiles (1856) six poems are devoted to Nice.
One entitled ''Physionomies nationales'' describes several regional costumes, of which two are of the Land of Nice.
In ''À Catherine Ségurane'' she celebrates the heroism of
Catherine Ségurane, the washerwoman of Nice.
During her life, she corresponded with several French writers including
Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...
,
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...
,
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
and
François-René de Chateaubriand
François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who had a notable influence on French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocrati ...
.
She was a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Belles Lettres of Lyon.
She is buried in the cemetery of the castle.
A square and a private school are named after her in Nice.
Works
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Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sasserno, Agathe-Sophie
1810 births
1860 deaths
French women poets
Romantic poets
19th-century French writers
19th-century women writers