Remy (or R̩mi) Belleau (; 1528 Р6 March 1577) was a
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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
of the
French Renaissance
The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define ...
. 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 nobleman (under the tutelage of the
Lorraine family), he did his studies under
Marc Antoine Muret and
George Buchanan
George Buchanan (; February 1506 – 28 September 1582) was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth-century Scotland produced." His ideology of re ...
. As a student, he became friends with the young poets
Jean de La Péruse,
Étienne Jodelle,
Jean de La Taille and
Pierre de Ronsard
Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet known in his generation as a "Prince des poètes, prince of poets". His works include ''Les Amours de Cassandre'' (1552)'','' ''Les Hymnes'' (1555-1556)'', Les Disco ...
and the latter incorporated Remy into the "
La Pléiade", a group of revolutionary young poets. Belleau's first published poems were
ode
An ode (from ) is a type of lyric poetry, with its origins in Ancient Greece. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structu ...
s, ''les Petites Inventions'' (1556), inspired by the ancient lyric Greek collection attributed to
Anacreon and featuring poems of praise for such things as butterflies, oysters, cherries, coral, shadows, turtles. In the 1560s, Belleau tried his hand at a mixed verse and prose form modeled on the Italian pastoral ''Arcadia'' by
Jacopo Sannazaro
Jacopo Sannazaro (; 28 July 1458 – 6 August 1530) was an Italian poet, Renaissance humanism, humanist, member and head of the Accademia Pontaniana from Kingdom of Naples, Naples.
He wrote easily in Latin language, Latin, in Italian and in Neap ...
(French translation, 1544): this became ''La Bergerie'' (1565-1572), in which narration (in prose) is interspersed with poems on love and the countryside. His last work, ''les Amours et nouveaux Eschanges des Pierres precieuses'' (1576), is a poetic description of gems and their properties inspired by medieval and renaissance
lapidary
Lapidary () is the practice of shaping rock (geology), stone, minerals, or gemstones into decorative items such as cabochons, engraved gems (including cameo (carving), cameos), and faceted designs. A person who practices lapidary techniques of ...
catalogues.
He died in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
on 6 March 1577, and was buried in
Grands Augustins.
Remy Belleau was greatly admired by poets in the twentieth century, such as
Francis Ponge.
Bibliography
* The Oeuvres Completes (1867)
* Oeuvres Poetiques (1879)
References
Sources
* Schmidt, Albert-Marie, ed. ''Poètes du XVIe siècle.'' Collection: Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Paris: Gallimard, 1953.
* Simonin, Michel, ed. ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises - Le XVIe siècle.'' Paris: Fayard, 2001.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belleau, Remy
1528 births
1577 deaths
People from Nogent-le-Rotrou
16th-century French poets
French male poets