Agrippa d'Aubigné
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
On dit qu’il faut couler les execrables choses --Les Tragiques by Agrippa d'Aubigné |
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Théodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné (1552 – 1630) was a French poet, soldier, propagandist and chronicler. His epic poem Les Tragiques (1616) is widely regarded as his masterpiece.
Literary and historical works
- Histoire universelle (1616–1618)
- Les Tragiques (1616)
- Avantures du Baron de Faeneste
- Confession catholique du sieur de Sancy
- Sa vie à ses enfants
Les Tragiques
Written over some three decades, the alexandrine verse of this epic poem relies on multiple genres as well as stylistic familiarity with the work of the opposing, Catholic poets of the Pléïade, headed by Pierre de Ronsard. Divided into seven books, a number symbolic of the author's ultimate, apocalyptic intent, the Tragiques incorporates literary influence from classical sources, such as tragedy and satire, palpable in the first three books ("Les Misères," "Les Princes" and "La Chambre Dorée" respectively), before resorting to influence from genres like ecclesiastical history, martyrology and apocalypse in the creation of the remaining books ("Template:Lang," "Template:Lang" "Template:Lang" and "Template:Lang").
In the first of two liminal paratexts, the introduction "Aux Lecteurs," Aubigné endorses the account (also found in his autobiographical Template:Lang), that the inception of the Tragiques came to him as an ecstatic vision during a near-death experience. In the second, "L'Auteur À Son Livre," Aubigné adopts the metaphor of father as author to name the text that follows (Les Tragiques) as a more pious son than the less religious works of his youth (c.f.: Le Printemps). The intent of the epic is subsequently spelled out as an attack against the falsely beautiful, verisimilar works written by the Catholic poets of the Pléïade for their patrons in the midst of the religious wars.
