C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711)
Boileau-Despréaux Nicolas (bwä-lō’dā-prā-ō’). A noted French poet and critic; born in Paris, Nov. 1, 1636; died on March 13, 1711. His first effort was ‘The Farewell of a Poet to the City of Paris’ (1660), and six years later he published collectedly seven satires (afterward increased to twelve), in which he castigates even the magnates of the literary world. Following the vein worked by Horace, he published ‘The Art of Poetry’ (1674). In reply to the critics Boileau composed ‘The Reading-Desk,’ a comic epic which is esteemed a masterpiece. (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).