François Ponsard (1 June 1814 – 7 July 1867) was a French dramatist, poet and author and was a member of 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 ...

Biography

Ponsard was born at

Vienne, Isère Vienne (; frp, Vièna) is a town in southeastern France, located south of Lyon, at the confluence of the Gère and the Rhône. It is the fourth largest-commune in the Isère department, of which it is a subprefecture alongside La Tour-du-Pin. ...

in 1814 and trained as a lawyer. His first literary work was a translation of Lord Byron's ''Manfred'' (1837). His play, ''Lucrèce'', was first performed at the Thêatre Français on 1 April 1843. This date is notable in literature and dramatic history, because it marked a reaction against the romantic style of

Alexandre Dumas, père Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where ''Suffix (name)#Generational titles, '' is French language, French for 'father', to distinguish him from ...

and

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 ...

. Ponsard adopted the liberty of the romantics with regard to the unities of time and place, but reverted to the more sober style of earlier French drama. The tastes and capacities of the greatest tragic actress of the day, ''

Rachel Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

'', suited his methods, and this contributed greatly to his own popularity. Lucrèce v Ponsard Schlußszene (IZ 01-1843 S 137)

He followed up ''Lucrèce'' with ''Agnès de Méranie'' (1846), ''Charlotte Corday'' (1850), and others. Ponsard accepted the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Empire, Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the French Second Republic, Second and the French Third Republic ...

with no very great enthusiasm, and was given the post of librarian to the senate; he soon resigned, and fought a bloodless

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

with a journalist on the subject. ''L'Honneur et l'argent'', one of his most successful plays, was acted in 1853, and he became an Academician in 1855. For some years he was inactive, but in 1866 he repeated his earlier success with ''Le Lion amoureux'', another play dealing with the revolutionary epoch. His ''Galilée'', which "excited great opposition in the clerical camp", was produced early in 1867. The play was essentially a romance drawn very loosely from the life of

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

, the great 17th-century Italian physicist and astronomer who was forced to recant his work by the

Roman Inquisition The Roman Inquisition, formally the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, was a system of partisan tribunals developed by the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church, during the second half of the 16th century, respons ...

. It was a "hit with the public", but universally panned by critics as a "trite drama of human emotions". His ''Œuvres completes'' were published in Paris (3 vols., 1865–1876).

Death

Ponsard died in Paris in 1867, soon after his nomination to the commandership of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

Place in French literature

Most of Ponsard's plays hold a certain steady level of literary and dramatic ability, but his popularity is in the main because his appearance coincided with a certain public weariness of the extravagant and unequal style of 1830.

Awards and honours

In 1845, Ponsard received the prize awarded by the

for a tragedy "to oppose a dike to the waves of

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

." In 1855 Ponsard became a member of the Académie française.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponsard, Francois 1814 births 1867 deaths Writers from Vienne, Isère Members of the Académie Française