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 Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named after ...

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auve ...

, the son of a captain in the French navy. His boyhood, by his own account, was cheerlessly passed at a ''

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

'' in Paris; he was not harshly treated, but took no part in the amusements of his companions. On leaving school with but slender means of support, he devoted himself to letters, and in 1842 published his first volume of verse (''Les Cariatides''), which was followed by ''Les Stalactites'' in 1846. The poems encountered some adverse criticism, but secured for their author the approbation and friendship of

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 ...

and

Jules Janin Jules Gabriel Janin (16 February 1804 – 19 June 1874) was a French writer and critic. Life and career Born in Saint-Étienne (Loire), Janin's father was a lawyer, and he was educated first at St. Étienne, and then at the lycée Louis-le-Gran ...

. From then on, Banville's life was steadily devoted to literary production and criticism. He printed other volumes of verse, among which the ''Odes funambulesques'' (1857) received unstinted praise from Victor Hugo, to whom they were dedicated. Later, several comedies in verse were produced at the Théâtre Français and on other stages; and from 1853 onwards a stream of prose flowed from his industrious pen, including studies of Parisian manners, sketches of well-known persons, and a series of tales, most of which were republished in his collected works (1875–1878). He also wrote freely for reviews, and acted as dramatic critic for more than one newspaper. Throughout a life spent mainly in Paris, Banville's genial character and cultivated mind won him the friendship of the chief men of letters of his time.

Legacy

In 1858 he was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, and was promoted to an Officier de la Légion d'honneur in 1886. He died in Paris in 1891 at the age of 68, and was buried in

Montparnasse Cemetery Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery ...

. There is a street named after him in the 17th ''Arrondissement'' in Paris. There is also a street named Theodore de Banville in Nice, France.

External links

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Complete Poetic Works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banville, Theodore De 1823 births 1891 deaths Writers from Moulins, Allier 19th-century French poets Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery French male poets 19th-century French male writers