Pierre de Ronsard

Pierre de Ronsard (pjɛʁ də ʁɔ̃saʁ; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a "prince of poets". Ronsard was born at Manoir de la Possonnière in the village of Couture-sur-Loir, Vendômois. His father served Francis I as maître d'hôtel du roi. Ronsard received an education at home before attending the College of Navarre in Paris at age nine. He later travelled extensively, including visits to Scotland, Flanders, and Holland. After a hearing impairment halted his diplomatic career, Ronsard dedicated himself to study at the Collège Coqueret. He became the acknowledged leader of the Pléiade, a group of seven French poets aiming to apply classical criticism and scholarship to the vernacular. Ronsard was a prolific writer, and his work was both admired and criticized throughout his life. His reputation was established by critics such as Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, and his poetry is characterized by its magnificence of language and imagery and graceful variety of metre. Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of Couture-sur-Loir, Vendômois (in present-day Loir-et-Cher). Baudouin de Ronsard or Rossart was the founder of the French branch of the house, and made his mark in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War. The poet's father was Louis de Ronsard, and his mother was Jeanne de Chaudrier, who came from a noble and well-connected family. Pierre was the youngest son. Louis de Ronsard was maître d'hôtel du roi to Francis I, whose captivity after Pavia had just been ameliorated by treaty, and who had to leave home shortly after Pierre's birth. The future poet was educated at home in his earliest years and sent to the Collège de Navarre in Paris at age nine. When Madeleine of France married to James V of Scotland, Ronsard became a page in the Scottish court, where he became inspired to render French vernacular translations of classical authors. A year after the death of the queen, he returned to France, travelling back through England.