Denys Corbet (22 May 1826 – 21 April 1909) was a Guernsey poet, naïve painter, and

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...

, the second son of Pierre Corbet, a seafarer, and Susanne ('' née'' de Beaucamp). He was born at La Turquie, Vale, Guernsey,

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

and is thought to have lost his parents in childhood. He married, probably in 1852, Mary "Elizabeth" Wellington (1833–1909) and had six children. Corbet wrote, for the most part, in the Dgèrnésiais or Guernsey French language.

"Last Poet"

Corbet described himself as the ''Le Draïn Rimeux'' (The Last Poet). He is best known for his poems, notably the epic ''L'Touar de Guernesy'', a picaresque tour of the parishes of Guernsey, ''Les Feuilles de la Fôret'' (The Leaves of the Forest, 1871), and ''Les Chànts du drain rimeux, ou Pièces de poësie originale en guernesiais et en français'' (Songs of the Last Rhymer, or Original Pieces of Poetry in Dgèrnésiais and French, 1884).British Library Main Catalogu
Retrieved 7 August 2016.
/ref> As editor of the French-language newspaper ''Le Bailliage'', he also wrote

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...

columns in Dgèrnésiais under the pen name Badlagoule (Chatterbox). The French scholar R. J. Lebarbenchon, in a 1988 tribute, described Corbet as "philanthrope, pacifiste, partisan du progrès, apôtre de l'instruction publique, il se classe aussi parmi les modernes et a foi en l'avenir" (philanthropist, pacifist, supporter of progress, apostle of public education, he ranks also among the moderns and has faith in the future).

Centenary

Today Denys Corbet is largely remembered as a naïve painter of rural life. The Canadian artist Christian Corbet is a collateral descendant. A special exhibition to mark the centenary of Corbet's death was held on 30–31 May 2009 at the Forest Douzaine, Forest, Guernsey, where a portrait of Denys Corbet painted by Christian Corbet was unveiled by Hazel Cotgrove, a great-granddaughter of Denys's. DenysCorbetSelf

References

External links

Denys Corbet's paintingsRenowned Canadian artist , Christian Corbet , New Brunswick
1826 births 1909 deaths Guernsey poets Norman-language poets Naïve painters Guernsey artists 19th-century poets {{Guernsey-bio-stub