Charles Hubert Millevoye (24 December 1782 in Abbeville – 12 August 1816 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a French poet several times honored by the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

. He was a transitional figure between the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries as revealed in his

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

poems. His poem beginning "Dans les bois l'amoureux Myrtil" (La Fauvette) is also well known as set to music in ''Vieille Chanson'' by

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

, as well as ''Le Mancenillier,'' as referred to in Meyerbeer's ''

L'Africaine ''L'Africaine'' (''The African Woman'') is an 1865 French ''grand opéra'' in five acts with music by Giacomo Meyerbeer and a libretto by Eugène Scribe. Meyerbeer and Scribe began working on the opera in 1837, using the title ''L'Africaine'', bu ...

'' and

Louis Moreau Gottschalk Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869) was an American composer and pianist, best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works. He spent most of his working career outside the United States. Life and car ...

's serenade for piano '' Le Mancenillier,'' Op. 11.

Life

First taught by an uncle, he later studied with M. Bardoux, a professor in the College of Abbeville. His father died when he was 13 years old, and he was then sent by his family to

to finish his education. He began to study law, then became a bookseller, but finally abandoned both to commit himself to writing. Millevoye married Margaret Flora Delattre on 31 August 1813 in Abbeville and only had one child, Charles Alfred (9 October 1813 in Abberville—6 June 1891 in Sadroc), who served as magistrate in charge of the judicial organization of

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population of ...

in 1860. Of his marriage with Irma Malvina Leclerc-Thouin on 7 June 1845 in Paris, Charles Alfred had three sons, of which

Lucien Millevoye Lucien Millevoye (1 August 1850 – 25 March 1918) was a French journalist and right-wing politician, now best known for his relationship with the Irish revolutionary and muse of W.B. Yeats, Maud Gonne. Millevoye was born in Grenoble in 1850, the ...

(1850, Grenoble—1918, Paris) was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

from 1882 to 1893, of

from 1898 to 1918, and Director of the newspaper '' La Patrie.''

Works

Millevoye in his time was well known for his poetry, which was a mixture of classical reminiscences and sentimental style.

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 ...

writes the following about him: ''"Entre Delille finit et Lamartine qui prélude, une pâle et douce étoile un moment a brillé: c'est lui."'' ("Between Delille's end and

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. ...

's prelude, a pale and gentle star momentaneously shines: it is he.") Millevoye mainly wrote elegies, of which ''La Chute des Feuilles'' (The Fall of the Leaves) is one of the most famous. Besides his poems, Millevoye also made fresh translations of the

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...

, the ''Bucolica'' of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

and some dialogues of Lucian of Samosata. He died at the age of 34. His complete works appeared ten years later, in 1826.

References

External links

* * * French Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Charles Hubert Millevoye Charles Hubert Millevoye (24 December 1782 in Abbeville – 12 August 1816 in Paris) was a French poet several times honored by the Académie française. He was a transitional figure between the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries as revea ...

.
Sheet music for ''Vieille Chanson''
at Art Song Central 1782 births People from Abbeville 1816 deaths 18th-century French poets 19th-century French poets 19th-century French male writers 18th-century French male writers {{France-poet-stub