Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas
Encyclopedia
Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544 – July 1590) was a French
poet. A Huguenot
, he served under Henry of Navarre
. He is known as an epic poet. La Sepmaine; ou, Creation du monde (1578) was a hugely influential hexameral work, relating the creation of the world and the history of man. It was translated into many languages, including English, and helped inspire Milton's Paradise Lost. It was followed quickly by La Seconde Sepmaine (1584) which Du Bartas did not manage to finish before falling fatally ill.
As a member of Henry III of Navarre's court, he was a writer in the Gascon dialect of the Occitan Language. His name in classical Occitan is Guilhèm de Sallusti deu Bartàs and his main work in Occitan is an Entry (1578) written in French, Latin and Occitan in which three muses challenged each other in order to claim the honour of welcoming King Henry of Navarre and his wife Queen Marguerite de Valois
at Henry's court of Nerac
. In the end, the Gascon muses win the contest.
was particularly impressed by Du Bartas after receiving a volume of his poetry in 1579. He translated Uranie which appeared in his first poetical publication Essayes of a Prentise The significance of this poem was that the muse Uranie manifests herself to persuade the poet to concentrate on religious rather than secular poetry:
Thomas Hudson
, part of the coterie of poets gathered around James court, sometimes known as the "Castalian Band
" translated Judith in 1584. James contributed a laudatory sonnet to the publication. Du Bartas responded by translating James' Lepanto and in 1587 he was sent by Henry of Navarre
to the Scottish court to discuss the possibility of James marrying Henri's sister. Although poetry was also a shared interest, James failed in his attempt to persuade Du Bartas to stay in Edinburgh.
James regarded Du Bartas very highly and encouraged other poets to translate his works, following his accession to the English throne. Thomas Winter
quotes from James' Basilikon Doron where he touches on Du Bartas, in the dedicatory epistle of his translation of du Bartas's Third Dayes Creation (1604). Joshua Sylvester
, another English poet around the court of King James, also translated Essay of the Second Week (1598) and The Divine Weeks of the World's Birth (1604).
Du Bartas' poems went rapidly out of fashion as the 17th century, characterised by a tight and precise style, reacted against its somewhat wordy and expansive - and at times unintentionally pathetic - verse, and Du Bartas has never regained the popularity he once enjoyed.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
poet. A Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
, he served under Henry of Navarre
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
. He is known as an epic poet. La Sepmaine; ou, Creation du monde (1578) was a hugely influential hexameral work, relating the creation of the world and the history of man. It was translated into many languages, including English, and helped inspire Milton's Paradise Lost. It was followed quickly by La Seconde Sepmaine (1584) which Du Bartas did not manage to finish before falling fatally ill.
As a member of Henry III of Navarre's court, he was a writer in the Gascon dialect of the Occitan Language. His name in classical Occitan is Guilhèm de Sallusti deu Bartàs and his main work in Occitan is an Entry (1578) written in French, Latin and Occitan in which three muses challenged each other in order to claim the honour of welcoming King Henry of Navarre and his wife Queen Marguerite de Valois
Marguerite de Valois
Margaret of Valois was Queen of France and of Navarre during the late sixteenth century...
at Henry's court of Nerac
Nérac
Nérac is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in south-western France.-External links:*...
. In the end, the Gascon muses win the contest.
Du Bartas and the Scottish Court
James VI of ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
was particularly impressed by Du Bartas after receiving a volume of his poetry in 1579. He translated Uranie which appeared in his first poetical publication Essayes of a Prentise The significance of this poem was that the muse Uranie manifests herself to persuade the poet to concentrate on religious rather than secular poetry:
- O ye that wolde your browes with Laurel bind,
- What larger feild I pray you can you find,
- Then is his praise, who brydles heavens most cleare
- Makes mountaines tremble, and howest (sic) hells to feare?
Thomas Hudson
Thomas Hudson
Thomas Hudson may refer to:* Thomas Hudson , British actor* Thomas Hudson , English portrait painter of the eighteenth century...
, part of the coterie of poets gathered around James court, sometimes known as the "Castalian Band
Castalian Band
The Castalian Band was a group of Scottish Jacobean poets, or makars, which flourished between the 1580s and early 1590s in the court of James VI and was consciously modelled on the French example of the Pléiade. Its name is derived from the classical term Castalian Spring, a symbol for poetic...
" translated Judith in 1584. James contributed a laudatory sonnet to the publication. Du Bartas responded by translating James' Lepanto and in 1587 he was sent by Henry of Navarre
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
to the Scottish court to discuss the possibility of James marrying Henri's sister. Although poetry was also a shared interest, James failed in his attempt to persuade Du Bartas to stay in Edinburgh.
James regarded Du Bartas very highly and encouraged other poets to translate his works, following his accession to the English throne. Thomas Winter
Thomas Winter
Thomas Winter may refer to:*Thomas Daniel Winter , U.S. Representative from Kansas*Thomas Winter , current editor-in-chief of Human Events...
quotes from James' Basilikon Doron where he touches on Du Bartas, in the dedicatory epistle of his translation of du Bartas's Third Dayes Creation (1604). Joshua Sylvester
Joshua Sylvester
Joshua Sylvester was an English poet.-Biography:Sylvester was the son of a Kentish clothier. In his tenth year he was sent to school at King Edward VI School, Southampton, where he gained a knowledge of French...
, another English poet around the court of King James, also translated Essay of the Second Week (1598) and The Divine Weeks of the World's Birth (1604).
Du Bartas' poems went rapidly out of fashion as the 17th century, characterised by a tight and precise style, reacted against its somewhat wordy and expansive - and at times unintentionally pathetic - verse, and Du Bartas has never regained the popularity he once enjoyed.
Occitan work and criticism
- Courouau, Jean-François. Premiers combats pour la langue occitane. AngletAngletAnglet is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in Aquitaine in south-western France. The town's name is pronounced [ãglet]; i.e...
: Atlantica, 2001. - Gardy, Philippe. Histoire et anthologie de la littérature occitane, Tome II, l'âge du baroque - 1520 -1789. MontpellierMontpellier-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
: Presse du languedoc, 1997. - Pierre BecPierre BecPierre Bec , is an Occitan poet and linguist. Born in Paris, 1921, he spent his childhood in Comminges, where he learnt Occitan. He was deported to Germany between 1943 and 1945. After returning, he studied in Paris, where he graduated in 1959...
, Le Siècle d'or de la Poésie gasconne. Paris : Les Belles Lettres, 1997. ISBN 2-251-49006-X.