Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (August 29, 1709 – June 16, 1777) 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 ...

, best known for his poem ''Vert-Vert''.

Life

He was born at

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

. During the last twenty-five years of his life, he regretted the frivolity of his youth, which enabled him to produce his most famous poem. He was brought up by the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

s of Amiens. Accepted as a novice at the age of seventeen, he was sent to study at the Collège Louis le Grand in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. After completing his course he was appointed, at the age of nineteen, to a post as assistant master in a college 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 ...

. Gresset published ''Vert-Vert'' at Rouen in 1734. It is the humorous story of a parrot, the delight of a convent whose talk was all of prayers and pious ambitions, and how it was conveyed to another convent as a visitor to please the

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

s. On the way it falls among bad companions, forgets its convent language, and shocks the sisters on arrival by profane swearing. It is sent back in disgrace, punished by solitude and plain bread, repents, reforms and is finally killed by kindness. The treatment of the subject, the atmosphere which surrounds it, and the delicacy with which the little prattling ways of the nuns, their jealousies and trifling concerns, are presented, takes the reader entirely by surprise. The poem stands absolutely unrivalled, even among French ''contes en vers''. Gresset, now famous, left Rouen for Paris, where he found refuge in the same garret which had sheltered him when a boy at the Collège Louis le Grand, and there wrote his second poem, ''La Chartreuse''. It was followed by the ''Carême impromptu'', the ''Lutrin vivant'' and ''Les Ombres''. Soon, complaints were made to the fathers of the alleged licentiousness of his verses, the real cause of complaint being the ridicule which ''Vert-Vert'' seemed to throw upon the religious community and the anti-clerical tendency of the other poems. Gresset was transferred to the Jesuit school of

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most po ...

, and soon after (30 September 1735) left the Order, without having been ordained priest. Gresset, who had never been taught to stand alone, was devastated: he wrote a moving ''Adieux aux Jésuites''. 1 a2 - 1938a10036

He went to Paris in 1740 and there produced ''Edouard III'', a tragedy (1740) and ''Sidnei'' (1745), a comedy. These were followed by '' Le Méchant'' which was qualified by

Ferdinand Brunetière Ferdinand Brunetière (19 July 1849 – 9 December 1906) was a French writer and critic. Personal and public life Early years Brunetière was born in Toulon, Var, Provence. After school at Marseille, he studied in Paris at the Lycée Louis-le-Gr ...

as the best verse

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

of the French 18th century theatre, even surpassing the ''Métromanie'' of

Alexis Piron Alexis Piron (9 July 1689 – 21 January 1773) was a French epigrammatist and dramatist. Life He was born at Dijon, where his father, Aimé Piron, was an apothecary. Piron senior wrote verse in the Burgundian language. Alexis began life as c ...

. Gresset was admitted to 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 ...

in 1748. After his marriage, in 1751, to the daughter of a former mayor of Amiens, he withdrew to that city, where he carried on his literary activities through the 'Académie d'Amiens' which he had founded. However, going through a moral crisis and religious awakening he disowned the more frivolous writings of the past. He died at Amiens on the 16 June 1777.

Works

*1734: ''

Vert-Vert ''Vert-Vert'' is an opéra comique in three acts by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Charles Nuitter, first performed on the 10th of March 1869 at the Paris Opéra-Comique. Based on the 1734 poem « Vert-Vert ou les voy ...

, histoire d’un perroquet de Nevers'' *1734: ''Le Carème impromptu'' *1734: ''Le Lutrin vivant'' *1734: ''La Chartreuse'' *1734: ''Ombres'' *1740: ''Édouard III'', tragedy, 22 January *1745: ''Sidney'', drame en vers, 3 May *1747: '' Le Méchant'', comédie en 5 actes, en vers, 15 April *1810: ''Le Parrain magnifique'', poème en dix chants * ''Correspondance avec Frédéric le Grand''

Bibliography

* Louis-Nicolas de Cayrol, ''Essai historique sur la vie et les ouvrages de Gresset'', Amiens, 1844 * J. Wogue, ''Jean-Baptiste Gresset; sa vie et ses œuvres'', Paris, 1894 * P.G. Salazar, ''Le Théâtre de Gresset : reflet d'une époque'', thèse de doctorat, Paris, 1977 * S. Lenel, ''Voltaire et Gresset'', Paris, 1889 ; éd. Nabu Press, 2010

Notes

References

* * *

External links

Correspondence with Frederick the Great
*Mircea Platon,
Physiocracy, Patriotism and Reform Catholicism in Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset’s Anti-Philosophe Enlightenment
in French History, October 2011 *Mircea Platon
Robespierre's Éloge De Gresset: Sources of Robespierre's Anti‐Philosophe Discourse
in Intellectual History Review, Volume 20, Issue 4, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gresset, Jean-Baptiste-Louis 1709 births 1777 deaths People from Amiens 18th-century French poets 18th-century French male writers 18th-century French dramatists and playwrights Former Jesuits Members of the Académie Française Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni French Jesuits