But after all deductions much will remain, especially when it is remembered that one of the chief authorities for these anecdotes is Louis Racine , a man who possessed intelligence and moral worth, and who received them from his father, La Fontaine's attached friend for more than thirty years. The numerous works of La Fontaine fall into three traditional divisions: He is best known for the first of these, in which a tradition of fable collecting in French verse reaching back to the Middle Ages was brought to a peak.
Although these earlier works refer to Aesop in their title, they collected many fables from more recent sources. The publication of the twelve books of La Fontaine's Fables extended from to The stories in the first six of these derive for the most part from Aesop and Horace and are pithily told in free verse. Those in the later editions are often taken from more recent sources or from translations of Eastern stories and are told at greater length.
Guy de Maupassant (Biographie) - aLaLettre
The deceptively simple verses are easily memorised, yet display deep insights into human nature. Many of the lines have entered the French language as standard phrases, often proverbial. The fables are also distinguished by their occasionally ironical ambivalence.
The second division of his work, the tales Contes et nouvelles en vers , were at one time almost equally as popular and their writing extended over a longer period. The first were published in and the last appeared posthumously. They were particularly marked by their archly licentious tone.
Biographie de Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
While the Fables have an international reputation, celebration of their author has largely been confined to France. Even in his own lifetime, such was his renown, he was painted by three leading portraitists.
Two contemporary sculptors made head and shoulders busts of La Fontaine. In Paris there is a full length marble statue by Pierre Julien , now in the Louvre , that was commissioned in and exhibited at the Salon. The writer is represented in an ample cloak, sitting in contemplation on a gnarled tree on which a vine with grapes is climbing. On his knee is the manuscript of the fable of the fox and the grapes , while at his feet a fox is seated on his hat with its paw on a leather-bound volume, looking up at him. In the following century small models were made of the bronze statue by Etienne Marin Melingue , exhibited in Paris in and in London in In this the poet is leaning thoughtfully against a rock, hat in hand.
Another commemorative monument to La Fontaine was set up at the head of the Parisian Jardin du Ranelagh in It was officially set in place in a square overlooking the Marne in During the Second Battle of the Marne it was damaged and was then moved about the town. Repaired now, its present position is in the square fronting the poet's former house.
At his feet the race between the Tortoise and the Hare is taking place. Further evidence of La Fontaine's enduring popularity is his appearance on a playing card from the second year of the French Revolution. He was no less popular at the Bourbon Restoration , as is evidenced by the royal commission of his statue.
Paul Verlaine
In equally, the asteroid Lafontaine was named in his honour. Other appearances on postage stamps include the 55 centimes issue of , with a medallion of the fable of The Wolf and the Lamb below him; [29] and the Monaco cent stamp commemorating the th anniversary of La Fontaine's birth in , in which the head and shoulders of the fabulist appear below some the more famous characters about which he wrote. Issued since , these bullion coins have had his portrait on the reverse and on the face each year's particular zodiac animal.
Fictional depictions have followed the fashionable view of La Fontaine at their period. As a minor character in Alexandre Dumas 's novel The Vicomte of Bragelonne , he appears as a bumbling and scatterbrained courtier of Nicolas Fouquet. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
I) Biographie.
For other uses, see La Fontaine disambiguation. Portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud private collection.
Kingdom of France portal Biography portal. La Fontaine and his friends: Archived from the original on 12 May Retrieved 5 September Aesthetic Realism Online Library.
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Translated by Eli Siegel Retrieved 18 February The Second World War: Retrieved 20 July A single line from the poem "Chanson d'automne" by Paul Verlaine, " blessent mon coeur D'une langueur monotone " wound my heart with a monotonous languor was the order for action. Operation Overlord Day by Day. The Storm of War: My Years with Boris Pasternak , Paris, Fayard, , p Paul Verlaine at Wikipedia's sister projects.
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