List of poets who have written in the French language:

A

Louise-Victorine Ackermann Louise-Victorine Ackermann (''née'' Choquet) (30 November 1813 – 2 August 1890) was a French Parnassianism, Parnassian poet. Life Ackermann was born in Paris, but spent her younger days in more rural surroundings near Montdidier, Somme, ...

(1813–1890) *

Adam de la Halle Adam de la Halle (1245–50 – 1285–8/after 1306) was a French poet-composer '' trouvère''. Among the few medieval composers to write both monophonic and polyphonic music, in this respect he has been considered both a conservative and progr ...

(v.1250 – v.1285) *

Pierre Albert-Birot Pierre Albert-Birot (22 April 1876 – 25 July 1967) was a French avant-garde poet, dramatist, and theater manager. He was a steadfast avant-garde during World War I, through the magazine ''Sic'' he created and published from 1916 to 1919. He wa ...

(1876–1967) *

Anne-Marie Albiach Anne-Marie Albiach (9 August 1937 – 4 November 2012) was a contemporary French poet and translator. Overview Anne-Marie Albiach's was a renowned French poet and writer born in Saint -Nazaire, France on 9 August 1937. Anne- Marie Albiach ...

(1937–2012) * Pierre Alféri (1963) *

Marc Alyn Marc Alyn (Alain-Marc Fécherolle), (born 18 March 1937 in Reims) is a French poet. Life He was mobilized to Algeria in 1957. He lived far from Paris, a farmhouse in Uzès, Gard. He traveled in the Middle East to the ruins of the Phoenician cit ...

(1937) * Catherine d'Amboise (1475–1550) *

Jean Amrouche Jean el Mouhouv Amrouche (7 February 1906 in Ighil Ali, Algeria – 16 April 1962 in Paris, France) was an Algerian francophone writer, poet and journalist. Biography Jean el Mouhouv Amrouche was born February 7, 1906, in Ighil Ali, in the val ...

(1906–1962) *

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of t ...

(1880–1918) *

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...

(1897–1982) *

Jacques Arnold Jacques Arnold DL (born 27 August 1947) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gravesham in Kent from 1987, when he succeeded Tim Brinton, until he lost his seat in the landslide ...

(1912–1995) * Hans Arp (1887–1966) *

Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...

(1896–1948) * Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné (1552–1630) * Jacques Audiberti (1899–1965) * Pierre Autin-Grenier (1947)

B

Jean-Antoine de Baïf Jean Antoine de Baïf (; 19 February 1532 – 19 September 1589) was a French poet and member of the '' Pléiade''. Life Jean Antoine de Baïf was born in Venice, the natural son of the scholar Lazare de Baïf, who was at that time French amb ...

(1532–1589) *

Théodore de Banville Théodore Faullain de Banville (14 March 1823 – 13 March 1891) was a French poet and writer. His work was influential on the Symbolist movement in French literature in the late 19th century. Biography Banville was born in Moulins in Allier, A ...

(1823–1891) *

Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (2 November 1808 – 23 April 1889) was a French novelist and short story writer. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitly concerned with anythin ...

(1807–1889) *

Henri Auguste Barbier Henri Auguste Barbier (29 April 1805 – 13 February 1882) was a French dramatist and poet. Barbier was born in Paris, France. He was inspired by the July Revolution and poured forth a series of eager, vigorous poems, denouncing the evils of the ...

(1805–1882) *

Natalie Clifford Barney Natalie Clifford Barney (October 31, 1876 – February 2, 1972) was an American writer who hosted a literary salon at her home in Paris that brought together French and international writers. She influenced other authors through her salon and a ...

(1876–1972) *

Linda Maria Baros Linda Maria Baros (born 6 August 1981 in Bucharest) is a French-language poet, translator and literary critic, one of the most powerful new voices on today's poetry scene (the famous French literary award ''Prix Guillaume Apollinaire'' – 200 ...

(1981) *

Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544, in Monfort – July 1590, in Mauvezin) was a Gascon Huguenot courtier and poet. Trained as a doctor of law, he served in the court of Henri de Navarre for most of his career. Du Bartas was celebrated ac ...

(1544–1590) *

Henry Bataille Félix-Henri "Henry" Bataille (4 April 1872, in Nîmes – 2 March 1922, in Rueil-Malmaison) was a French dramatist and poet. His works were popular between 1900 and the start of World War I. Bataille's parents died when he was young. He atten ...

(1872–1922) *

Henry Bauchau Henry Bauchau (22 January 1913 – 21 September 2012) was a Belgian psychoanalyst, lawyer, and author of French prose and poetry. Biography Henry Bauchau was born in Mechelen, Belgium on 22 January 1913. He became a trial lawyer in Brussels in ...

(1913–2012) *

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

(1821–1867) *

Marcel Béalu Marcel Béalu was born in Selles-sur-Cher on 30 October 1908, and raised in impoverished circumstances in Saumur. He died on 19 June 1993. Life Largely self-taught, he read the classics of canonical French literature on his own initiative while w ...

(1908–1993) *

Philippe Beck Philippe Beck (born in Strasbourg on April 21, 1963) is a French poet, writer and professor for Philosophy at University of Nantes, in France and European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. Biography Beck was a former student of the ENS ...

(1963) *

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

(1906–1989) *

Joachim du Bellay Joachim du Bellay (; – 1 January 1560) was a French poet, critic, and a founder of the Pléiade. He notably wrote the manifesto of the group: '' Défense et illustration de la langue française'', which aimed at promoting French as an a ...

(1522–1560) *

Rémy Belleau Remy (or Rémi) Belleau (1528 – 6 March 1577) was a poet of the French Renaissance. He is most known for his paradoxical poems of praise for simple things and his poems about precious stones. Life Remy was born in Nogent-le-Rotrou. A noblema ...

(1528–1577) * Charles Beltjens (1832–1890) *

Tahar Ben Jelloun Tahar Ben Jelloun ( ar, الطاهر بن جلون; born in Fes, Morocco, 1 December 1944) is a Moroccan writer. All of his work is written in French although his first language is Darija. He became known for his 1985 novel ''L’Enfant de Sab ...

(1944) *

Isaac de Benserade Isaac de Benserade (; baptized 5 November 161310 October 1691) was a French poet. Born in Lyons-la-Forêt, Normandy, his family appears to have been connected with Richelieu, who bestowed on him a pension of 600 ''livres''. He began his liter ...

(1612–1691) * Annie Bentoiu (1927–2015) *

Pierre-Jean de Béranger Pierre-Jean de Béranger (19 August 178016 July 1857) was a prolific French poet and chansonnier ( songwriter), who enjoyed great popularity and influence in France during his lifetime, but faded into obscurity in the decades following his deat ...

(1780–1857) *

Christian Bernard Christian Bernard (born 30 November 1951), F.R.C., is a former Imperator of AMORC, a mystical Rosicrucian order. He became Imperator on 12 April 1990. On October 3, 2018, Bernard announced his resignation as Imperator, and the election of Claud ...

(1950) *

Béroul Béroul was a Norman or Breton poet of the 12th century. He wrote ''Tristan'', a Norman language version of the legend of Tristan and Iseult of which a certain number of fragments (approximately 3000 verses) have been preserved; it is the earlies ...

(12th century) * Louky Bersianik (1965) *

Aloysius Bertrand Louis Jacques Napoléon Bertrand, better known by his pen name Aloysius Bertrand (20 April 1807 — 29 April 1841), was a French Romantic poet, playwright and journalist. He is famous for having introduced prose poetry in French literature,Stua ...

(1807–1841) *

Gérard Bessière Gérard Bessière (born 1928) is a French diarist, poet, priest of the Diocese of Cahors, former national chaplain for the teaching staff of university parish, former journalist of the weekly magazine '' La Vie'', and author of numerous books on s ...

(1928) *

Maurice Blanchot Maurice Blanchot (; ; 22 September 1907 – 20 February 2003) was a French writer, philosopher and literary theorist. His work, exploring a philosophy of death alongside poetic theories of meaning and sense, bore significant influence on pos ...

(1907–2003) *

Blondel de Nesle Blondel de Nesle – either Jean I of Nesle (c. 1155 – 1202) or his son Jean II of Nesle (died 1241) – was a French trouvère. The name 'Blondel de Nesle' is attached to twenty-four or twenty-five courtly songs. He was identified in 1942, b ...

(12th–13th centuries) *

Christian Bobin Christian Bobin (24 April 1951 – 24 November 2022) was a French author and poet. Bobin received the 1993 Prix des Deux Magots for the book ''Le Très-Bas'' (translated into English in 1997 by Michael Kohn and published under two titles: ''Th ...

(1951) *

Jean Bodel Jean Bodel (c. 1165 – c. 1210), was an Old French poet who wrote a number of ''chanson de geste, chansons de geste'' as well as many fabliaux. He lived in Arras. Writings Bodel wrote ("Song of the Saxons") about the war of King Charlemagne wi ...

(1165–1210) *

Étienne de La Boétie Étienne or Estienne de La Boétie (; oc, Esteve de La Boetiá; 1 November 1530 – 18 August 1563) was a French magistrate, classicist, writer, poet and political theorist, best remembered for his intense and intimate friendship with essayist ...

(1530–1563) *

Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (; 1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711), often known simply as Boileau (, ), was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the ...

(1636–1711) *

Bonaventure Des Périers Bonaventure ( ; it, Bonaventura ; la, Bonaventura de Balneoregio; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Catholic Franciscan, bishop, Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal, Scholasticism, scholastic theologian ...

(1500–1544) *

Yves Bonnefoy Yves Jean Bonnefoy (24 June 1923, Tours – 1 July 2016 Paris) was a French poet and art historian. He also published a number of translations, most notably the plays of William Shakespeare which are considered among the best in French. He was pr ...

(1923–2016) * Pétrus Borel (1809–1859) * Bertran de Born (1150–1215 ?) * Robert de Boron (12th–13th centuries) *

Théodore Botrel Jean-Baptiste-Théodore-Marie Botrel (14 September 1868 – 28 July 1925) was a French singer-songwriter, poet and playwright. He is best known for his popular songs about his native Brittany, of which the most famous is ''La Paimpolaise''. Durin ...

(1868–1925) * André du Bouchet (1924–2001) * Daniel Boulanger (1922–2014) *

Stéphane Bouquet Stephane Bouquet (born 1968) is a French writer, screenwriter and critic. Filmography As screenwriter * 1996 : '' Il faut que je l'aime'' * 1998 : '' Les Corps ouverts'' * 1999 : '' Les Terres froides'' * 2000 : ''Presque rien'' * 2001 : '' La ...

(1967) *

Joë Bousquet Joë Bousquet (; 19 March 1897 – 28 September 1950) was a French poet. Bousquet was born in Narbonne. Wounded on 27 May 1918 at Vailly near the Aisne battlelines at the end of the First World War, he was paralysed for the rest of his life, an ...

(1897–1950) *

Georges Brassens Georges Charles Brassens (; 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981) was a French singer-songwriter and poet. As an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and a ...

(1921–1981) *

Jacques Brault Jacques Brault (29 March 1933 – 20 October 2022) was a French Canadian poet and translator who lived in Cowansville, Quebec, Canada. He was born to a poor family, but received an excellent education at the Université de Montréal and at the ...

(1933) *

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

(1896–1966) *

Nicole Brossard Nicole Brossard (born November 27, 1943) is a leading French-Canadian formalist poet and novelist. Her work is known for exploration of feminist themes and for challenging masculine-oriented language and points of view in French literature. Sh ...

(1943) *

Aristide Bruant Aristide Bruant (; 6 May 1851 – 11 February 1925) was a French cabaret singer, comedian, and nightclub owner. He is best known as the man in the red scarf and black cape featured on certain famous posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He ...

(1851–1925) * Gace Brulé (c.1160 – after 1213) * Andrée Brunin (1937–1993) *

Michel Butor Michel Butor (; 14 September 1926 – 24 August 2016) was a French poet, novelist, teacher, essayist, art critic and translator. Life and work Michel Marie François Butor was born in Mons-en-Barœul, a suburb of Lille, the third of seven childre ...

(1926–2016)

C

Louis Calaferte Louis Calaferte (French pronunciation: wi kalafɛrt; 14 July 1928 - 2 May 1994) was an Italian-born French naturalized novelist. He was born in Turin, Italy, but emigrated to France with his parents when he was very young, settling in a Lyon sub ...

(1928–1994) *

Susana Calandrelli Susana Calandrelli (January 17, 1901 – July 21, 1978) was an Argentine writer and teacher. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Calandrelli wrote everything from poetry, stories, novels to essays, plays, lectures and textbooks. She p ...

(1901–1978) *

Jean-Pierre Calloc'h Jean-Pierre or Jean Pierre may refer to: People * Karine Jean-Pierre b.1977, White House Deputy Press Secretary for President Joe Biden 2021- * Jean-Pierre, Count of Montalivet (1766–1823), French statesman and Peer of France * Eugenia Pierre ...

(1888–1917) *

Émile Cammaerts Émile Leon Cammaerts CBE (16 March 1878 in Saint-Gilles, Belgium – 2 November 1953, Radlett, Hertfordshire) was a Belgian playwright, poet (including war poet) and author who wrote primarily in English and French. Cammaerts translated three b ...

(1878–1953) * Côtis-Capel (1915–1986) *

Placide Cappeau Placide Cappeau (25 October 1808 – 8 August 1877) was a French poet and the author of the poem, "Minuit, chrétiens" (1847), set to music by Adolphe Adam and known in English as the carol "O Holy Night" or "Cantique de Noël". Biography H ...

(1808–1877) * Adolphe Joseph Carcassonne (1826–1891) *

Francis Carco Francis Carco (born François Carcopino-Tusoli) (1886–1958) was a French author, born at Nouméa, New Caledonia. He was a poet, belonging to the ''Fantaisiste'' school, a novelist, a dramatist, and art critic for ''L'Homme libre'' and ''Gil Blas ...

(1886–1958) *

Maurice Carême Maurice Carême (12 May 1899 – 13 January 1978) was a Belgian francophone poet, best known for his simple writing style and children's poetry. His work was part of the literature event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympic ...

(1899–1978) *

Jean Cayrol Jean Cayrol (; 6 June 1911 – 10 February 2005) was a French poet, publisher, and member of the Académie Goncourt born in Bordeaux. He is perhaps best known for writing the narration in Alain Resnais's 1955 documentary film, ''Night and Fog''. H ...

(1911–2005) *

Blaise Cendrars Frédéric-Louis Sauser (1 September 1887 – 21 January 1961), better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European mo ...

(1887–1961) *

Aimé Césaire Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He founded the Par ...

(1913–2008) *

Jean Chapelain Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle, best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française. Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a l ...

(1595–1674) *

Maurice Chappaz Maurice Chappaz (21 December 1916, in Lausanne – 15 January 2009, in Martigny) was a French-language Swiss poet and writer. He published more than 40 books and won several literary awards, including his country's most notable award, the Gran ...

(1916–2009) * René Char (1907–1988) * Alain Chartier (1385–1430) *

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 ...

(1768–1848) *

Malcolm de Chazal Malcolm de Chazal (12 September 1902 – 1 October 1981) was a Mauritian writer, painter, and visionary, known especially for his ''Sens-Plastique'', a work consisting of several thousand aphorisms and pensées. Early life and education Chazal ...

(1902–1981) *

Andrée Chedid Andrée Chedid ( ar, أندريه شديد) (20 March 1920 – 6 February 2011), born Andrée Saab Khoury, was an Egyptian- French poet and novelist of Syrian/Lebanese descent. She is the recipient of numerous literar ...

(1920–2011) * Charles-Julien Lioult de Chênedollé (1769–1833) *

François Cheng François Cheng (; born 30 August 1929) is a Chinese-born French academician, writer, poet, and calligrapher. He is the author of essays, novels, collections of poetry and books on art written in the French language, and the translator of some o ...

(1929) *

André Chénier André Marie Chénier (; 30 October 176225 July 1794) was a French poet of Greek and Franco-Levantine origin, associated with the events of the French Revolution of which he was a victim. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precur ...

(1762–1794) *

Jacques Chessex Jacques Chessex (Payerne, 1 March 1934 – Yverdon-les-Bains, 9 October 2009) was a Swiss author and painter. Biography Chessex was born in 1934 in Payerne. From 1951 to 1953, he studied at Collège Saint-Michel in Fribourg, before undertaking ...

(1934–2009) * Chrétien de Troyes (c.1135 – c.1183) *

Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Early lif ...

(1868–1955) * William Cliff (1940) *

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

(1889–1963) *

Gabrielle de Coignard Gabrielle de Coignard (1550?–1586) was a Toulousaine devotional poet in 16th-century France. She is most well known for her posthumously published book of religious poetry, ''Oeuvres chrétiennes'' ("Christian Works"), and her marriage into the ...

(1550–1586) *

Louise Colet Louise Colet (15 August 1810 – 9 March 1876), born Louise Revoil de Servannes, was a French poet and writer. Life and works She was born at the hôtel d'Antoine ( fr) in Aix-en-Provence in France. In her twenties she married Hippolyt ...

(1810–1876) *

Danielle Collobert Danielle Collobert was a French author, poet and journalist. Biography Danielle Collobert was born in Rostrenen, Côtes-d'Armor on 23 July 1940. Her mother, a teacher, was obliged to live in a neighbouring village, and Collobert thus grew up a ...

(1940–1978) * Claude Confortès (1928–2016) *

Conon de Béthune Conon de Béthune (before 1160 in the former region of Artois, today Pas-de-Calais - 17 December 1219, possibly at Adrianople) was a French crusader and trouvère poet who became a senior official and finally regent of the Latin Empire of Cons ...

(c.1150 – 1220) * Benoît Conort (1956) *

François Coppée François Edouard Joachim Coppée (26 January 1842 – 23 May 1908) was a French poet and novelist. Biography Coppée was born in Paris to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis he became a clerk in the ministry of war and won ...

(1842–1908) *

Tristan Corbière Tristan Corbière (18 July 1845 – 1 March 1875), born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean (now part of Morlaix) in Brittany, where he lived most of his life before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 29 ...

(1845–1875) *

Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

(1606–1684) * Charles Cotin (1604–1681) *

Gaston Couté Gaston Couté (23 September 1880 – 28 June 1911) was a French poet and singer, known for his pacifist and anarchist texts. Biography Couté was the son of a miller and went to the lycée Pothier in Orléans, but left before taking the baccal ...

(1880–1911) * Watriquet de Couvin (active 1319–1329) *

Octave Crémazie Octave Crémazie (April 16, 1827 – January 16, 1879) was a French Canadian poet and bookseller born in Quebec City. Recognized both during and after his lifetime for his patriotic verse and his significant role in the cultural development of ...

(1827–1879) *

René Crevel René Crevel (; 10 August 1900 – 18 June 1935) was a French writer involved with the surrealist movement. Life Crevel was born in Paris to a family of Parisian bourgeoisie. He had a traumatic religious upbringing. At the age of fourteen, h ...

(1900–1935) *

Charles Cros Charles Cros or Émile-Hortensius-Charles Cros (October 1, 1842 – August 9, 1888) was a French poet and inventor. He was born in Fabrezan, Aude. Cros was a well-regarded poet and humorous writer. As an inventor, he was interested in the field ...

(1842–1888)

D

Jean Daive Jean Daive (born 13 May 1941) is a French poet and translator. He is the author of novels, collections of poetry and has translated work by Paul Celan and Robert Creeley among others. He has edited encyclopedias, worked as a radio journalist an ...

(1941) * Léon-Gontran Damas (1914–1978) *

René Daumal René Daumal (; 16 March 1908 – 21 May 1944) was a French spiritual para-surrealist writer, critic and poet, best known for his posthumously published novel '' Mount Analogue'' (1952) as well as for being an early, outspoken practitioner ...

(1908–1944) *

François David François David (October 14, 1870 - October 1, 1939), an ethnic Assyrian people, Assyrian, was the Chaldean Catholic Church, Chaldean Catholic Bishop of Amadiyah in Iraq. He was consecrated as bishop by Chaldean Patriarch Yousef VI Emmanuel II Tho ...

(1950) * Anne-Marie de Backer (1908–1987) * Lise Deharme (1898–1979) *

Lucie Delarue-Mardrus Lucie Delarue-Mardrus (3 November 1874 in Honfleur – 26 April 1945 ) was a French journalist, poet, novelist, sculptor, historian and designer. She was a prolific writer, who produced more than 70 books in her lifetime. In France, she is ...

(1880–1945) *

Yanette Delétang-Tardif Yanette Delétang-Tardif (18 June 1902 – 1976) was a French poet, translator into French of Spanish and German works, painter and illustrator. She was a very productive and reputed author of poetry, however she appeared sometimes as a restricte ...

(1902–1976) *

Jacques Delille The French poet Jacques Delille (; 22 June 1738 at Aigueperse in Auvergne – 1 May 1813, in Paris) came to national prominence with his translation of Virgil’s Georgics and made an international reputation with his didactic poem on gardening. ...

(1738–1813) *

René Depestre René Depestre (born 29 August 1926, Jacmel, Haiti) is a Haitian poet and former communist activist. He is considered to be one of the most prominent figures in Haitian literature. He lived in Cuba as an exile from the Duvalier regime for ma ...

(1926) * Tristan Derème (1889–1941) *

Paul Déroulède Paul Déroulède (2 September 1846 – 30 January 1914) was a French author and politician, one of the founders of the nationalist League of Patriots. Early life Déroulède was born in Paris. He was published first as a poet in the magazine '' ...

(1846–1914) *

Maryline Desbiolles Maryline Desbiolles (born 21 May 1959 in Ugine, Savoie) is a French writer and winner of the Prix Femina, 1999, for ''Anchise''. References

1959 births Living people People from Savoie French women novelists 20th-century French novelist ...

(1959) *

Marceline Desbordes-Valmore Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (20 June 1786 – 23 July 1859) was a French poet and novelist. She was born in Douai. Following the French Revolution, her father's business was ruined, and she traveled with her mother to Guadeloupe in search of fi ...

(1786–1859) *

Émile Deschamps Émile de Saint-Amand Deschamps (; 20 February 179123 April 1871) was a French poet. He was born at Bourges. The son of a civil servant, he adopted his father's career, but as early as 1812 he distinguished himself by an ode, ''La Paix conquise ...

(1791–1871) *

Eustache Deschamps Eustache Deschamps (13461406 or 1407) was a French poet, byname Morel, in French "Nightshade". Life and career Deschamps was born in Vertus. He received lessons in versification from Guillaume de Machaut and later studied law at Orleans Univers ...

(1346–1406) *

Robert Desnos Robert Desnos (; 4 July 1900 – 8 June 1945) was a French poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day. Biography Robert Desnos was born in Paris on 4 July 1900, the son of a licensed dealer in game and poultry at the '' H ...

(1900–1945) *

Philippe Desportes Philippe Desportes or Desports (1546 – 5 October 1606) was a French poet.Jean Balsamo. Philippe Desports (1546-1606) Volume 62 of Actes et colloques. Editor, Contributor, Jean Balsamo. Publisher, Klincksieck, 2000 Biography Philippe Desp ...

(1546–1606) * Jean-Pierre Desthuilliers (1939) * Bruno Destrée (1867–1919) * Léon Deubel (1879–1913) *

Souéloum Diagho Souéloum Diagho, the contemporary Tuareg poet, comes from Tessalit in the North of Mali. His father is a Tuareg and his mother a Fula.In french: Peul; in ff, Fulɓe. He is married and lived for a time in Belgium. He is author and editor of the 20 ...

Mohammed Dib Mohammed Dib ( ar, محمد ديب; 21 July 1920 – 2 May 2003) was an Algerian author. He wrote over 30 novels, as well as numerous short stories, poems, and children's literature in the French language. He is probably Algeria's most prolific ...

(1920–2003) *

David Diop David Mandessi Diop (9 July 1927 – 29 August 1960) was a French West African poet known for his contribution to the Négritude literary movement. His work reflects his anti-colonial stance. Biography Diop started writing poems while he wa ...

(1927–1960) *

Charles Dobzynski Charles Dobzynski (born 1929 Warsaw - 26 September 2014) was a French poet, journalist and translator. Life His family emigrated to France, where he was barely a year old. He narrowly escaped deportation during World War II. he published his firs ...

(1929)) *

Jean Dorat Jean Daurat ( Occitan: Joan Dorat; Latin: Auratus) (3 April 15081 November 1588) was a French poet, scholar and a member of a group known as '' The Pléiade''. Early life He was born Joan Dinemandy in Limoges and was a member of a noble famil ...

(1508–1588) * Hélène Dorion (1958) *

Christian Dotremont Christian Dotremont, (; 12 December 1922 – 20 August 1979), was a Belgian painter and poet who was born in Tervuren, Belgium. He was a founding member of the Revolutionary Surrealist Group (1946) and he also founded COBRA together with Danis ...

(1922–1979) *

Minou Drouet Marie-Noëlle Drouet, known as Minou Drouet (born 24 July 1947), of La Guerche-de-Bretagne, France, is a former poet, musician, and actor. Biography Drouet gained fame in 1955 when some of her poems and letters circulated privately among Frenc ...

(1947) * Caroline Dubois (1960) * Bernard Dubourg (1945–1992) *

Georges Duhamel Georges Duhamel (; ; 30 June 1884 – 13 April 1966) was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published '' Confession de minuit'', the first of a serie ...

(1884–1966) * Jacques Dupin (1927–2012) *

Jean-Pierre Duprey Jean-Pierre Duprey (1 January 1930, in Rouen – 2 October 1959, in Paris) was a French poet and sculptor, one of the modern examples of a poète maudit A ''poète maudit'' (, "accursed poet") is a poet living a life outside or against society. ...

(1930–1959)

E

Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...

(1895–1952) * Claude Esteban (1935–2006)

F

Nabile Farès Nabile Farès (25 September 1940 – 30 August 2016) was an Algerian-born French novelist. He was born in Collo, a part of Skikda Province, Algeria. Farès left his studies and prepared (in the camps in Tunisia) to fight against the French towards ...

(1940) *

Léon-Paul Fargue Léon-Paul Fargue (, 4 March 187624 November 1947) was a French poet and essayist. He was born in Paris, France, on rue Coquilliére. As a poet he was noted for his poetry of atmosphere and detail. His work spanned numerous literary movements. ...

(1876–1947) *

Jean-Pierre Faye Jean-Pierre Faye (born 19 July 1925) is a French philosopher and writer of fiction and prose poetry. Life and career Faye was born in Paris. He was member of the editing committee of the avant-garde literary review ''Tel Quel ''Tel Quel'' (t ...

(1925) * Léo Ferré (1916–1993) *

Jean Follain Jean Follain (29 August 1903 – 10 March 1971) was a French writer, poet and corporate lawyer. In the early days of his career he was a member of the "Sagesse" group.

(1903–1971) *

Xavier Forneret Xavier Forneret (16 September 1809 in Beaune, Côte-d'Or – 7 August 1884) was a French writer; poet, playwright and journalist. Life Born in 1809 bourgeois family by the name Antoine Charles Ferdinand, he was one of the few members of the Ro ...

(1809–1884) *

Paul Fort Jules-Jean-Paul Fort (1 February 1872 – 20 April 1960) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. At the age of 18, reacting against the Naturalistic theatre, Fort founded the Théâtre d'Art (1890–93). He also founded and edit ...

(1872–1960) *

Marie de France Marie de France ( fl. 1160 to 1215) was a poet, possibly born in what is now France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court ...

(1154–1189) *

Martin Le Franc Martin le Franc ( – 1461) was a French poet of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Life and career He was born in Normandy, and studied in Paris. He entered clerical orders, becoming an apostolic prothonotary, and later becoming secretar ...

(1410–1461) *

Frankétienne Frankétienne (born Franck Étienne on April 12, 1936, in Ravine-Sèche, Haiti) is a Haitian writer, poet, playwright, painter, musician, activist and intellectual. He is recognized as one of Haiti's leading writers and playwrights of both Fre ...

(1936) * Pauline Fréchette (1889-1943) * André Frédérique (1915–1957) *

Jean Froissart Jean Froissart (Old and Middle French: ''Jehan'', – ) (also John Froissart) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meliador'', a long Arthurian ...

(v.1337-v.1410)

G

Pierre Gabriel Pierre Gabriel (1 August 1933 – 24 November 2015), also known as Peter Gabriel, was a French mathematician at the University of Strasbourg (1962–1970), University of Bonn (1970–1974) and University of Zürich (1974–1998) who worked on cat ...

(1926–1994) * Serge Gainsbourg (1928–1991) * Augièr Galhard (16th-century) *

Pierre Gamarra Pierre Gamarra (; 10 July 1919 – 20 May 2009) was a French poet, novelist and literary critic, a long-time chief editor and director of the literary magazine ''Europe''.Gamarra is best known for his poems and novels for the youth and for n ...

(1919–2009) *

Joachim Gasquet Joachim Gasquet (31 March 1873 – 6 May 1921) was a French author, poet, and art critic. Biography Early life Joachim Gasquet was born in 1873 in Aix-en-Provence. Career He was an author, poet and art critic. He is best known for his writing a ...

(1873–1921) *

Armand Gatti Armand Gatti (; 26 January 1924 – 6 April 2017) was a French playwright, poet, journalist, screenwriter, filmmaker and World War II resistance fighter.Banham (1998, 413). His debut film ''Enclosure'' was entered into the 2nd Moscow Internatio ...

(1924–2017) *

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rem ...

(1811–1872) *

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...

(1910–1986) *

Amélie Gex Amélie Rose Françoise Gex (October 24, 1835 in La Chapelle-Blanche, Savoie – June 16, 1883 in Chambéry) was a Savoyard writer and poet who created works in French language, French and Franco-Provençal language, Franco-Provençal (Arpitan). Un ...

(1835–1883) *

Henri Ghéon Henri Ghéon (15 March 1875 – 13 June 1944), born Henri Vangeon in Bray-sur-Seine, Seine-et-Marne, was a French playwright, novelist, poet and critic. Biography Brought up by a devout Roman Catholic mother, he lost his faith in his early teens ...

(1875–1644) * Roger Gilbert-Lecomte (1907–1943) *

Iwan Gilkin Iwan Gilkin (7 January 1858 – 28 September 1924) was a Belgian poet. Born in Brussels, Gilkin was associated with the Symbolist school in Belgium. His works include ''Les ténèbres'' (1892, featuring a frontispiece by Odilon Redon) and ''Le ...

(1858–1924) *

Roger Giroux Roger Giroux (1925–1974) was a French poet and transtator. Giroux's only book published when he was alive was ''L’arbre le temps'', Mercure de France, 1964 ; it won the Max-Jacob' Prize that same year. Giroux translated texts of W.B. Yeats, ...

(1925–1974) * Edouard Glissant (1928–2011) *

Guy Goffette Guy Gofete (born 18 April 1947) is a Belgian-born poet and writer. Gofete published his first book of poems in 1969. Since then he has worked as an editor at the publishing company Gallimard. Gofete's poetry has been compared to Verlaine (of wh ...

(1947) *

Claire Goll Claire Goll (born Klara Liliane Aischmann) (29 October 1890 in Nuremberg, Germany – 30 May 1977 in Paris, France) was a German-French writer and journalist; she married the poet Yvan Goll in 1921. Biography Goll née Aischmann was born on 29 O ...

(1890–1977) *

Yvan Goll Yvan Goll (also: Iwan Goll, Ivan Goll; born Isaac Lang; 29 March 1891 – 27 February 1950) was a French-German poet who was bilingual and wrote in both French and German. He had close ties to both German expressionism and to French surrealism ...

(1891–1950) *

Jean Ogier de Gombauld Jean Ogier de Gombauld (1576 – 1666) was a French playwright and poet. Gombauld was born in Saint-Just-Luzac, Charente-Maritime and was a Huguenot. He was one of the original members of the Académie française. He also wrote novels, but has ...

(1576–1666) *

Remy de Gourmont Remy de Gourmont (4 April 1858 – 27 September 1915) was a French symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars and Georges Bataille. The spelling ''Rémy'' de Go ...

(1858–1915) *

Xavier Grall Xavier Grall (1930–1981) was a journalist and poet from Brittany, France, who was a strong advocate of Breton nationalism during the Third Emsav. His work glorifies a mystical Brittany. Early career Xavier Grall was born in Landivisiau in Fi ...

(1930–1981) * Benoît Gréan *

Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (August 29, 1709 – June 16, 1777) was a French poet and dramatist, best known for his poem ''Vert-Vert''. Life He was born at Amiens. During the last twenty-five years of his life, he regretted the frivolity of his ...

(1709–1777) *

Jacques Grévin Jacques Grévin (''c''. 1539 – 5 November 1570) was a French playwright. Grévin was born at Clermont, Oise in about 1539, and he studied medicine at the University of Paris. He became a disciple of Ronsard, and was one of the band of dramati ...

(1538–1570) * Jean Grosjean (1912–2006) *

Maurice de Guérin Georges-Maurice de Guérin (4 August 181019 July 1839) was a French poet. His works were imbued with a passion for nature whose intensity reached almost to worship and was enriched by pagan elements. According to Sainte-Beuve, no French poet or ...

(1810–1839) *

Georges Guillain Georges Charles Guillain () (3 March 1876 – 29 June 1961) was a French neurologist born in Rouen. He studied medicine in Rouen and Paris, where he learned clinical education at several hospitals. He developed an interest in neurology, and his ...

(1947) *

Guillaume de Lorris Guillaume de Lorris (c. 1200c. 1240) was a French scholar and poet from Lorris. He was the author of the first section of the ''Roman de la Rose''. Little is known about him, other than that he wrote the earlier section of the poem around 1230, ...

(c.1200 – c.1238) * Pernette du Guillet (1520–1545) *

Eugène Guillevic Eugène Guillevic ( Carnac, Morbihan, France, August 5, 1907 Carnac – March 19, 1997 Paris) () was a French poet. Professionally, he went by the single name ''Guillevic''. Life He was born in the rocky landscape and marine environment of ...

(1907–1997)

H

(1237–1288) *

Anne Hébert Anne Hébert (pronounced in French) (August 1, 1916 – January 22, 2000), was a Canadian author and poet. She won Canada's top literary honor, the Governor General's Award, three times, twice for fiction and once for poetry. Early life Hébe ...

(1916–2000) *

Markus Hediger Markus Hediger (born 31 March 1959) is a Swiss writer and translator. Life Markus Hediger was born in Zürich and brought up in Reinach, Aargau. From 1980 to 1990 he studied French literature, literary criticism and Italian literature at Unive ...

(1959) * Bernard Heidsieck (1928–2014) *

Georges Henein Georges Henein (1914–1973) was an Egyptian poet and author. He was a founding member of the Cairo-based, surrealist Art and Liberty Group which brought together artists, writers and various intellectuals of different backgrounds and national o ...

(1914–1973) *

José-Maria de Heredia José-Maria de Heredia (22 November 1842 – 3 October 1905) was a Cuban-born French Parnassian poet. He was the fifteenth member elected for seat 4 of the Académie française in 1894. Biography Early years Heredia was born at Fortuna ...

(1842–1905) * Antoine Héroet (d. 1567) *

Michel Houellebecq Michel Houellebecq (; born Michel Thomas, 26 February 1956 or 1958) is a French author, known for his novels, poems and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer ...

(1958) *

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 ...

(1802–1885) * Marie Huot (1965)

I

* Jacques Izoard (1936–2008)

J

Edmond Jabès Edmond Jabès (; ar, إدمون جابيس; Cairo, April 14, 1912Edmond Jabès, ''From the Book to the Book: An Edmond Jabès Reader'' (Wesleyan University Press, 1991) p xxi – Paris, January 2, 1991) was a French writer and poet of Egy ...

(1912–1991) *

Philippe Jaccottet Philippe Jaccottet (; 30 June 1925 – 24 February 2021) was a Swiss Francophone poet and translator. Life and work After completing his studies in Lausanne, he lived for several years in Paris. In 1953, he moved to the town of Grignan in ...

(1925–2021) *

Max Jacob Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. Life and career After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic ca ...

(1876–1944) *

Francis Jammes Francis Jammes (; 2 December 1868, in Tournay, Hautes-Pyrénées – 1 November 1938, in Hasparren, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) was a French and European poet. He spent most of his life in his native region of Béarn and the Basque Country and his po ...

(1868–1938) * Amadis Jamyn (1538–1592) *

Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics. Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, ...

(1873–1907) * Sandra Jayat (c.1939) * Georges Jean (1920–2011) * Jean de Meung (1250 – c.1305) *

Étienne Jodelle Étienne Jodelle, seigneur de Limodin (1532July 1573), French dramatist and poet, was born in Paris of a noble family. He attached himself to the poetic circle of the Pléiade and proceeded to apply the principles of the reformers to dramatic ...

(1532–1573) *

Jean Joubert Jean Joubert (27 February 1928 – 28 November 2015) was a French novelist, short story writer, and poet. He won the 1978 Prix Mallarmé for ''Poems: 1955–1975''. He won the 1975 Prix Renaudot for ''L'Homme de sable''. Life Joubert was born in ...

(1928–2015) *

Jacques Jouet Jacques Jouet in 2012. Jacques Jouet (born 9 October 1947) is a French writer and has been a participating member of the Oulipo literary project since 1983. He is a poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayiste, and plasticine artist ...

(1947) *

Alain Jouffroy Alain Jouffroy (11 September 1928 – 20 December 2015) was a French writer, poet and artist. Jouffroy was born near Parc Montsouris, Paris. He was the first advocate of an Art Strike and formed the L'Union des Ecrivains during the strikes of ...

(1928–2015) *

Pierre Jean Jouve Pierre Jean Jouve (11 October 1887 – 8 January 1976) was a French writer, novelist and poet.Michael Sheringham, 'Jouve, Pierre-Jean', ''Oxford Companion to French Literature''Onlineat answers.com He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Litera ...

(1887–1976) * Charles Juliet (1934)

K

Gustave Kahn Gustave Kahn (21 December 1859, in Metz – 5 September 1936, in Paris) was a French Symbolist poet and art critic. He was also active, via publishing and essay-writing, in defining Symbolism and distinguishing it from the Decadent Movement. P ...

(1859–1936) * Kama Sywor Kamanda (1952) * Abdelkebir Khatibi (1938–2009) *

Vénus Khoury-Ghata Vénus Khoury-Ghata (born 1937 in Bsharri, Lebanon) is a French-Lebanese poet and writer. Early life Venus Khoury-Ghata was born into a Maronite family, the daughter of a soldier that spoke French and a mother that was a peasant. She is the old ...

(1937) *

Tristan Klingsor Tristan Klingsor, birth name (Arthur Justin) Léon Leclère (born Lachapelle-aux-Pots, Oise department, 8 August 1874; died Nogent-sur-Marne, 3 August 1966), was a French poet, musician, painter and art critic, best known for his artistic associat ...

(1874–1966) * Anise Koltz (1928) * Petr Kral (1941–2020) *

Seyhan Kurt Seyhan Kurt is a French-Turkish poet, writer, anthropologist and sociologist. Biography He was born in the commune of Bourgoin-Jallieu in Grenoble, France. He studied at the École de Jean Jaurès in Lyon. He studied painting in France and dr ...

(1971)

L

Abdellatif Laâbi Abdellatif Laâbi is a Moroccan poet, journalist, novelist, playwright, translator and political activist, born in 1942 in Fes, Morocco. Laâbi, then teaching French, founded with other poets the artistic journal Souffles, an important literar ...

(1942) *

Louise Labé Louise Charlin Perrin Labé, ( 1524 – 25 April 1566), also identified as La Belle Cordière (The Beautiful Ropemaker), was a feminist French poet of the Renaissance born in Lyon, the daughter of wealthy ropemaker Pierre Charly and his second wif ...

(1524–1566) *

Pierre Labrie Pierre Labrie (born 23 April 1972) is a French-speaking Quebecer, Québécois poet, born at Mont-Joli, Quebec. He now lives in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Trois-Rivières. Very involved in the social and cultural milieu of the region, he was preside ...

(1972) *

Jacques Lacarrière Jacques Lacarrière (; 2 December 1925 – 17 September 2005) was a French writer, born in Limoges. He studied moral philosophy, classical literature, and Hindu philosophy and literature. Professionally, he was known as a prominent critic, jour ...

(1925–2005) *

Jean de La Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Euro ...

(1621–1695) *

Jules Laforgue Jules Laforgue (; 16 August 1860 – 20 August 1887) was a Franco-Uruguayan poet, often referred to as a Symbolist poet. Critics and commentators have also pointed to Impressionism as a direct influence and his poetry has been called "part-symbol ...

(1860–1887) *

Jean Lahor Henri Cazalis (; 9 March 1840, Cormeilles-en-Parisis, Val-d'Oise – 1 July 1909, Geneva) was a French physician who was a symbolist poet and man of letters and wrote under the pseudonyms of Jean Caselli and Jean Lahor. His works include: *''Cha ...

(1840–1909) *

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. ...

(1790–1869) *

Bernard de La Monnoye Bernard de La Monnoye (15 June 1641, in Dijon – 15 October 1728) was a French lawyer, poet, philologue and critic, known chiefly for his carols ''Noei borguignon'' ('' Borguignon Christmas''). Biography La Monnoye began his studies in Jesuit ...

(1641–1728) * Jane de La Vaudère (1857-1908) *

Valery Larbaud Valery Larbaud (29 August 1881 – 2 February 1957) was a French writer and poet. Life He was born in Vichy, the only child of a pharmacist. His father died when he was 8, and he was brought up by his mother and aunt. His father had been owner ...

(1881–1957) * Josaphat-Robert Large (1942) *

Rina Lasnier Rina Lasnier, (6 August 1915 – 9 May 1997) was a Québécois poet. Born in St-Grégoire d'Iberville- Mont-Saint-Grégoire, Quebec, she attended Collège Marguerite Bourgeoys and the Université de Montréal. Although she was the author o ...

(1910–1997) * Isidore Ducasse, comte de Lautréamont (1846–1870) *

Pierre-Antoine Lebrun Pierre-Antoine Lebrun (; 29 November 1785 – 27 May 1873) was a French poet. Biography Lebrun was born in Paris. An ''Ode à la grande armée'', mistaken at the time for the work of Écouchard Lebrun, attracted Napoleon's attention, and secur ...

(1785–1873) *

Félix Leclerc Félix Leclerc, (August 2, 1914 – August 8, 1988) was a French-Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, writer, actor and '' Québécois'' political activist. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 20, 1968. Leclerc was posth ...

(1914–1988) *

Leconte de Lisle Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle (; 22 October 1818 – 17 July 1894) was a French poet of the Parnassian movement. He is traditionally known by his surname only, Leconte de Lisle''. Biography Leconte de Lisle was born on the French overseas ...

(1818–1894) *

Michel Leiris Julien Michel Leiris (; 20 April 1901 in Paris – 30 September 1990 in Saint-Hilaire, Essonne) was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer. Part of the Surrealist group in Paris, Leiris became a key member of the College of Sociology with ...

(1901–1990) *

Jean Lemaire de Belges Jean Lemaire de Belges (c. 1473c. 1525) was a Walloon poet and historian, and pamphleteer who, writing in French, was the last and one of the best of the school of poetic 'rhétoriqueurs' (“rhetoricians”) and the chief forerunner, both in style ...

(1473–1520) * Charles Le Quintrec (1926–2008) * Jean-François Leriget de La Faye (1674–1731) *

Alain Le Roux Alan Rufus, alternatively Alanus Rufus (Latin), Alan ar Rouz ( Breton), Alain le Roux (French) or Alan the Red (c. 1040 – 1093), 1st Lord of Richmond, was a Breton nobleman, kinsman and companion of William the Conqueror (Duke William II of N ...

(1949) *

Hervé Le Tellier Hervé Le Tellier (born 21 April 1957) is a French writer and linguist, and a member of the international literary group Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle, which translates roughly as "workshop of potential literature"). He is its fou ...

(1957) * Henry Jean-Marie Levet (1874–1906) *

Tristan L'Hermite :''See also François Tristan l'Hermite'' Tristan l'Hermite (died c. 1478) was a French political and military figure of the late Middle Ages. He was born in Flanders near the beginning of the century. He was provost of the marshals of the Kin ...

(1601–1655) * Liska (1956–2011) *

(1200–1240) *

Pierre Louÿs Pierre Louÿs (; 10 December 1870 – 4 June 1925) was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to "express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection". ...

(1870–1925) * Ghérasim Luca (1913–1994) * Jean-Pierre Luminet (1951)

M

* Guillaume de Machaut *

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

François de Malherbe François de Malherbe (, 1555 – 16 October 1628) was a French poet, critic, and translator. Life He was born in Le Locheur (near Caen, Normandie), to a family of standing, although the family's pedigree did not satisfy the heralds in terms of ...

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...

* Pierre de Marbeuf *

Clément Marot Clément Marot (23 November 1496 – 12 September 1544) was a French Renaissance poet. Biography Youth Marot was born at Cahors, the capital of the province of Quercy, some time during the winter of 1496–1497. His father, Jean Marot (c.&n ...

Jean Marot Jean Marot (Mathieu, near Caen, 1463 – c. 1526) was a French poet of the late 15th and early 16 century and the father of the French Renaissance poet Clément Marot. He is often grouped with the "Grands Rhétoriqueurs". Jean Marot seems to ha ...

Anne de Marquets Anne de Marquets was a French Catholic nun and poet from the . She was likely born around 1533 in the Comté d'Eu of a noble family.Feugère, 1860, p. 63. Biography She entered the convent at Poissy at a very young age, where she proved to be gifte ...

* Fabien Marsaud *

Charles Maurras Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-par ...

* Catulle Mendès * Élisa Mercœur (1809–1835) * Thierry Metz *

Jean de Meun Jean de Meun (or de Meung, ) () was a French author best known for his continuation of the '' Roman de la Rose''. Life He was born Jean Clopinel or Jean Chopinel at Meung-sur-Loire. Tradition asserts that he studied at the University of Paris. He ...

Henri Michaux Henri Michaux (; 24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984) was a Belgian-born French poet, writer and painter. Michaux is renowned for his strange, highly original poetry and prose, and also for his art: the Paris Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim ...

* Jean Michel *

Jean Moréas Jean Moréas (; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910), was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek ...

Hégésippe Moreau Hégésippe Moreau (born Pierre-Jacques Roulliot; April 8, 1810December 20, 1838) was a French lyric poet. From birth, he was called by the last name of his biological father (Moreau) and took on the pseudonym Hégésippe when he first began pub ...

Colin Muset Colin Muset (''fl''. ''c''. 1210–50 or 1230–70) was an Old French trouvère and a native of Lorraine. He made his living in the Champagne by travelling from castle to castle singing songs of his own composition and playing the vielle. ...

* Alfred de Musset

N

Marguerite de Navarre Marguerite de Navarre (french: Marguerite d'Angoulême, ''Marguerite d'Alençon''; 11 April 149221 December 1549), also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was a princess of France, Duchess of Alençon and Berry, and Queen ...

Émile Nelligan Émile Nelligan (December 24, 1879 – November 18, 1941) was a Canadian Symbolist poet from Montreal who wrote in French. Even though he stopped writing poetry after being institutionalized at the age of 19, Nelligan remains an iconic figure ...

Gérard de Nerval Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855) was the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, a major figure of French romanticism, best known for his novellas and poems, especially the collection '' Les ...

O

René de Obaldia René de Obaldia (22 October 1918 – 27 January 2022) was a French playwright and poet. He was elected to the Académie française on 24 June 1999. Biography He was the great-grandson of José Domingo de Obaldía, the second President of Panam ...

* Charles, duc d'Orléans

P

Évariste de Parny Évariste Desiré de Forges, vicomte de Parny (6 February 17535 December 1814) was a French poet. Biography De Parny was born in Saint-Paul on the Isle of Bourbon (now Réunion); he came from an aristocratic family from the region of Berry, ...

Charles Péguy Charles Pierre Péguy (; 7 January 1873 – 5 September 1914) was a French poet, essayist, and editor. His two main philosophies were socialism and nationalism. By 1908 at the latest, after years of uneasy agnosticism, he had become a believing b ...

Benjamin Péret Benjamin Péret (4 July 1899 – 18 September 1959) was a French poet, Parisian Dadaist and a founder and central member of the French Surrealist movement with his avid use of Surrealist automatism. Biography Benjamin Péret was born in Rezé, ...

Louis Pergaud Louis Pergaud (22 January 1882 – 8 April 1915) was a French novelist, war poet, and soldier, whose principal works were known as "Animal Stories" due to his featuring animals of the Franche-Comté in lead roles. His most notable work was the no ...

Saint-John Perse Alexis Leger (; 31 May 1887 – 20 September 1975), better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse (; also Saint-Leger Leger), was a French poet-diplomat, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1960 "for the soaring flight and evocative ...

* Christine de Pizan *

Francis Ponge Francis Jean Gaston Alfred Ponge (; 27 March 1899 – 6 August 1988) was a French essayist and poet. Influenced by surrealism, he developed a form of prose poem, minutely examining everyday objects. He was the third recipient of the Neustadt Inter ...

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist moveme ...

* Guiot de Provins *

Sully Prudhomme René François Armand "Sully" Prudhomme (; 16 March 1839 – 6 September 1907) was a French poet and essayist. He was the first winner of the 1901 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901. Born in Paris, Prudhomme originall ...

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Raymond Queneau Raymond Queneau (; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo ('' Ouvroir de littérature potentielle''), notable for his wit and cynical humour. Biography Queneau w ...

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Nicolas Rapin Nicolas Rapin (1535 – 16 February 1608) was a French Renaissance magistrate, royal officer, translator, poet and satirist, known for being one of the authors of the Satire Ménippée (1593/4) and an outspoken critic of the excesses of the Holy L ...

Henri de Régnier Henri-François-Joseph de Régnier (28 December 1864 – 23 May 1936) was a French symbolist poet, considered one of the most important of France during the early 20th century. Life and works He was born in Honfleur ( Calvados) on 28 December 1 ...

Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy (; 13 September 1889 – 17 June 1960) was a French poet whose works were inspired by and subsequently proceeded to influence the provocative art movements of the day, Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism. The loneliness and spiritual a ...

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

Jules Romains Jules Romains (born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule; 26 August 1885 – 14 August 1972) was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement. His works include the play '' Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine'', and a cycle ...

Pierre de Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a " prince of poets". Early life Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of ...

Jaufré Rudel Jaufre Rudel (Jaufré in modern Occitan) was the Prince of Blaye (''Princes de Blaia'') and a troubadour of the early- to mid-12th century, who probably died during the Second Crusade, in or after 1147. He is noted for developing the theme of "l ...

* Rutebeuf

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* Janou Saint-Denis * Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau *

Mellin de Saint-Gelais Mellin de Saint-Gelais (or ''Melin de Saint-Gelays'' or ''Sainct-Gelais''; c. 1491 – October, 1558) was a French poet of the Renaissance and Poet Laureate of Francis I of France. Life He was born at Angoulême, most likely the natural ...

Jean François de Saint-Lambert Jean François de Saint-Lambert (; 26 December 1716 – 9 February 1803) was a French poet, philosopher and military officer. Biography Saint-Lambert was born at Nancy and raised on his parents' estate at Affracourt, a village in Lorraine near ...

Benoît de Sainte-Maure Benoît de Sainte-Maure (; died 1173) was a 12th-century French poet, most probably from Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine near Tours, France. The Plantagenets' administrative center was located in Chinon, west of Tours. ''Le Roman de Troie'' His 40,000 ...

* André Salmon *

Albert Samain Albert Victor Samain (3 April 185818 August 1900) was a French poet and writer of the Symbolist school. Life and works Born in Lille, his family were Flemish and had long lived in the town or its suburbs. At the time of the poet's birth, his fat ...

Paul Scarron Paul Scarron (c. 1 July 1610 in Paris – 6 October 1660 in Paris) (a.k.a. Monsieur Scarron) was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist, born in Paris. Though his precise birth date is unknown, he was baptized on 4 July 1610. Scarron was the fi ...

Maurice Scève Maurice Scève (c. 1501–c. 1564), was a French poet active in Lyon during the Renaissance period. He was the centre of the Lyonnese côterie that elaborated the theory of spiritual love, derived partly from Plato and partly from Petrarch. This ...

Georges Schehadé Georges may refer to: Places * Georges River, New South Wales, Australia * Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 19 ...

Pierre Seghers Pierre Seghers (5 January 1906, in Paris – 4 November 1987, in Créteil) was a French poet and editor. During the Second World War he took part in the French Resistance movement. Career He founded, among other things, the famous line of boo ...

Léopold Senghor Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name) * Leopold (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...

* Louisa Siefert *

Dominique Sorrente Dominique Sorrente is a French poet. He was elected laureate by the Marseille Academy in 1983, and Guy Levis Mano laureate in 1984. Biography Dominique Sorrente was born in Nevers (Nièvre) in 1953. He spent his childhood in various cities a ...

Philippe Soupault Philippe Soupault (2 August 1897 – 12 March 1990) was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He was active in Dadaism and later was instrumental in founding the Surrealist movement with André Breton. Soupault ini ...

* André Spire *

Jules Supervielle Jules Supervielle (16 January 1884 – 17 May 1960) was a Franco-Uruguayan poet and writer born in Montevideo. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times. He opposed the surrealism movement in poetry and rejected automatic wri ...

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Taillefer Taillefer (, meaning "hewer of iron") was the surname of a Norman ''jongleur'' (minstrel), whose exact name and place of birth are unknown (sometimes his first name is given as "Ivo"). He travelled to England during the Norman conquest of Englan ...

* Jean de La Taille *

Jean Tardieu Jean Tardieu (born in Saint-Germain-de-Joux, Ain, 1 November 1903, died in Créteil, Val-de-Marne, 27 January 1995) was a French artist, musician, poet and dramatic author. Life and career He earned a degree in literature and worked for a publ ...

Thomas of Britain Thomas of Britain (also known as Thomas of England) was a poet of the 12th century. He is known for his Old French poem ''Tristan'', a version of the Tristan and Iseult legend that exists only in eight fragments, amounting to around 3,300 lines of v ...

Khal Torabully Khal Torabully is a Mauritian poet. Born in Mauritius in 1956, in the capital city Port Louis, his father was a Trinidadian sailor and his mother was a descendant of migrants from India and Malaya. Work Khal Torabully left for Lyon in 1976, t ...

Julien Torma Julien Torma (Cambrai, 6 April 1902 – Tyrol, 17 February 1933) was credited as a French writer, playwright and poet who was part of the Dadaist movement. Torma disappeared in the mountains of the Tyrol at the age of 30. Due to his secretive ...

Paul-Jean Toulet Paul-Jean Toulet (5 June 1867, Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques - 6 September 1920) was a French poet, novelist and feuilleton writer. Life and works Paul-Jean Toulet was the son of a wealthy sugar planter, originally from Pau but living in Mauri ...

Roland Michel Tremblay Roland Michel Tremblay (born October 15, 1972 in Quebec City, Quebec) is a French Canadian author, poet, scriptwriter, development producer and science-fiction consultant. He has been living in London since 1995. Biography Roland Michel Tremblay ...

* Chrétien de Troyes *

Pontus de Tyard Pontus de Tyard (also Thyard, Thiard) (c. 1521 – 23 September 1605) was a French poet and priest, a member of " La Pléiade". Life He was born at Bissy-sur-Fley in Burgundy, of which he was ''seigneur'', but the exact year of his birth is ...

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...

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Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mus ...

Jean-Pierre Vallotton Jean-Pierre Vallotton (born 1955 in Geneva, Switzerland) is a French-speaking Swiss poet, writer and artist. Background Jean-Pierre Vallotton studied literature and drama. He has participated in a number of international literature festivals inclu ...

Léonise Valois Léonise Valois (October 11, 1868 – May 20, 1936) was a Canadian poet and journalist. She was a pioneer in Canadian women's journalism and was the first French Canadian woman to publish a collection of poetry. Biography The daughter of phys ...

Jean Venturini Jean Venturini (17 September 1919 – 17 June 1940) was a French poet and sailor. He died at the age of 20 during the Second World War when his submarine was lost in the Mediterranean Sea. Biography Jean Venturini was born in Nabeul, Tunisia, ...

* Serge Venturini *

Emile Verhaeren Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and ...

* Francis Viélé-Griffin *

Boris Vian Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sulliva ...

Claude Vigée Claude Vigée (born Claude Strauss; 3 January 1921 – 2 October 2020) was a French poet who wrote in French and Alsatian. He described himself as a "Jew and an Alsatian, thus doubly Alsatian and doubly Jewish". Life Vigée was born in Bischwi ...

Alfred de Vigny Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French poet and early French Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare. Biography Vigny was born in Loches (a town to which he never r ...

François Villon François Villon ( Modern French: , ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these ...

Roger Vitrac Roger Vitrac (; 17 November 1899 – 22 January 1952) was a French surrealist playwright and poet. Early life Roger Vitrac was born in Pinsac on 17 November 1899, before his family moved to Paris in 1910.:527 As a young man, he was influenced b ...

Vincent Voiture Vincent Voiture (24 February 1597 – 26 May 1648), French poet and writer of prose, was the son of a rich wine merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him ...

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...