Louis-Xavier de Ricard (January 25, 1843July 2, 1911) was a French

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, author and journalist of the 19th century. He was founder and editor of '' La Revue du progrès'' (''La Revue du Progrès moral, littéraire, scientifique et artistique'') which was the first to publish a poem by

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 ...

in August 1863. He and

Catulle Mendès Catulle Mendès (22 May 1841 – 8 February 1909) was a French poet and man of letters. Early life and career Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, Mendès was born in Bordeaux. After childhood and adolescence in Toulouse, he arrived in Paris in 185 ...

edited the first volume of ''

Le Parnasse contemporain Le Parnasse contemporain ("The Contemporary Parnassus", e.g., the contemporary poetry scene) is composed of three volumes of poetry collections, published in 1866, 1871 and 1876 by the editor Alphonse Lemerre, which included a hundred French poets ...

'', published by

Alphonse Lemerre Alphonse Lemerre (Canisy, Normandy, France, 1838 – Paris, France, 1912) was a 19th-century French editor and publisher, known especially for having been the first to publish many of the Parnassian poets. Life Alphonse Lemerre was the eig ...

in 1866. He was a member of the

Commune de Paris The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

(1871) and

Félibrige The ''Félibrige'' (; in classical Occitan, in Mistralian spelling, ) is a literary and cultural association founded in 1854 by Frédéric Mistral and other Provençal writers to defend and promote the Occitan language (also called the ) and ...

, a group founded by

Frédéric Mistral Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; oc, Josèp Estève Frederic Mistral, 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was a French writer of Occitan literature and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel P ...

to promote and defend

Provençal literature Occitan literature (referred to in older texts as Provençal literature) is a body of texts written in Occitan, mostly in the south of France. It was the first literature in a Romance language and inspired the rise of vernacular literature throug ...

and the Provençal language (a ''

Langue d'oc Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys ...

'' language).

Life

His father was general and marquis Joseph-Barthélemy de Ricard (who successively served

Napoléon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, then the

Bourbons The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanish ...

and finally was premier ''aide-de-camp'' of

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 1 ...

in 1852). Ricard's first collection of poetry, ''Les chants de l'aube'' (''Songs of Dawn'') was published in 1862 by Poulet-Malassis. In March 1863, after receiving an inheritance from an aunt, he founded ''La Revue du progrès''. Among the contributors to the ''Revue'' were Charles Longuet and a young

(his first published poem). The ''Revue'' lasted one year; the atheist sentiments of the ''Revue'' lead to a Monseigneur Dupanloup taking legal action against the ''Revue'' on the grounds that it was an outrage to public morals and good

mores Mores (, sometimes ; , plural form of singular , meaning "manner, custom, usage, or habit") are social norms that are widely observed within a particular society or culture. Mores determine what is considered morally acceptable or unacceptable ...

. Ricard was defended by a talented young attorney, Léon Gambetta, and was sentenced to eight months in prison, reduced to three, at Sainte Pélagie, and had to pay a fine of 1,200

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

. After serving his sentence, his friends manifested an active support, and this small group of supporters was the origin of the politico-literary salon that met every Friday at the home of Ricard's mother, 10 Boulevard des Batignolles. Ricard was happy to entertain these boisterous republican and anti-clerical youths. Many great French poets and writers of the future attended:

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

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 Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901. Born in Paris, Prudhomme originally studied to be an engineer, bu ...

Villiers de l'Isle-Adam Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (7 November 1838 – 19 August 1889) was a French symbolist writer. His family called him Mathias while his friends called him Villiers; he would also use the name Auguste wh ...

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 ...

; and

Raoul Rigault Raoul Adolphe Georges Rigault, (16 January 1846 in Paris, 24 May 1871 also in Paris) was a journalist and French Socialist revolutionary, best known for his role during the Paris Commune of 1871. He is most notable for his execution of Arch ...

, the future attorney of the Commune de Paris (1871). In March 1866, Ricard and

were appointed by editor

to be directors of a now famous and pivotal collection of poetry called ''

'', a collection that gave the name ''Parnassian'' to a group of poets that came to be known as Parnassians. Ricard also contributed 8 poems to that first collection. In 1867 Verlaine, a friend of Ricard (whom he called "an excellent

Langue d'Oc Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys ...

ian poet"), dedicated his ''Les Vaincus'' to Ricard, a poem on the vanquished of 1848.

Works

* ''Histoire mondaine du Second Empire : en attendant l'Impératrice, 1852-1853'' ; Paris : Librairie Universelle, 1904. * ''Madame de la Valette'', Paris, Société d'éditions littéraires et artistiques, 1901. * ''Les Sept péchés capitaux : la colère'', Paris : E. Bernard, 1901. * ''Officier de fortune ! : aventures de Marie-Armand de Guerry de Maubreuil'', Paris, Montgredien, 1899. * ''L'esprit politique de la Réforme.'', Paris, Fischbacher, 1893. * ''Un poète national : Auguste Fourès'', Paris, 1888. * ''Le fédéralisme,'', Paris, Sandoz & Fischbacher, 1877. * ''Ciel, rue et foyer,'', Paris, Lemerre, 1866. * ''La résurrection de la Pologne'', Paris, Marpon, 1863. * ''Petits mémoires d'un Parnassien'', coll. Avant-siècle, Paris, Lettres modernes - Minard, 1967. Ce livre contient également ''Les Parnassiens'', d'Adolphe Racot. Introductions et commentaires de Michael Pakenham

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ricard, Louis-Xavier De 1843 births 1911 deaths French poets Date of death unknown French male poets