Louis Hyacinthe Bouilhet (27 May 1821 – 18 July 1869) 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 ...

and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. Bouilhet was born at Cany,

Seine Inférieure Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Roue ...

. He was a schoolfellow of

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

, to whom he dedicated his first work, ''Miloenis'' (1851), a narrative poem in five cantos, dealing with Roman manners under the emperor

Commodus Commodus (; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was a Roman emperor who ruled from 177 to 192. He served jointly with his father Marcus Aurelius from 176 until the latter's death in 180, and thereafter he reigned alone until his assassination. ...

. His volume of poems entitled ''Fossiles'' attracted considerable attention, on account of the attempt therein to use science as a subject for poetry. These poems were included also in ''Festons et astragales'' (1859). As a dramatist he secured a success with his first play, ''Madame de Monlarcy'' (1856), which ran for seventy-eight nights at the Odéon; and ''Hélène Peyron'' (1858) and ''L'Oncle Million'' (1860) were also favorably received. But of his other plays, some of them of real merit, only the ''Conjuration d'Amboise'' (1866) met with any great success. Bouilhet died on 18 July 1869, at

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

. Flaubert published his posthumous poems with a notice of the author, in 1872. Bouilhet was Flaubert's mentor and guide, and Flaubert never wrote anything without his advice. A few months after Bouilhet's death in 1869 Flaubert wrote: "When I lost my poor Bouilhet, I lost my midwife, the man who saw more clearly into my mind than I did myself." Starkie quotes Maxime Du Camp who knew them both well as saying that "it was Bouilhet who was the master, in the matter of literature at least, and that it was Flaubert who obeyed." Throughout their lives, Flaubert referred to Bouilhet as "Monseigneur."

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Maxime Du Camp Maxime Du Camp (8 February 1822 – 9 February 1894) was a French writer and photographer. Biography Born in Paris, Du Camp was the son of a successful surgeon. After finishing college, he indulged in his strong desire for travel, thanks to ...

, ''Souvenirs littéraires'' (1882) * H. de la Ville de Mirmont, ''Le Poète Louis Bouilhet'' (1888) * Enid Starkie, "Flaubert: The Making of the Master" (1967) * Enid Starkie, "Flaubert the Master" (1971) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouilhet, Louis 19th-century French poets 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights People from Seine-Maritime 1821 births 1869 deaths French male poets 19th-century French male writers

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References