Background
From the province in which he was born, he went to Paris to study poetry under François de Malherbe, who left him half of his library in his will, the other half went to Racan.
From the province in which he was born, he went to Paris to study poetry under François de Malherbe, who left him half of his library in his will, the other half went to Racan.
He was a French poet. He was the other of many works, of which others have since published in modern anthologies. Despite a pension of £600 that the Cardinal Richelieu bestowed upon him, he lived all of his life in relative poverty.
Sur l'Esprit malin
French
Nature, prête-moi tes plus noires couleurs,
Fournis, pour mon tableau, le sang d'une panthère,
Le venin d'un dragon, le fiel d'une vipère,
D'un crocodile enfin, et l'écume et les pleurs. Je veux peindre, aujourd'hui, l'artisan des malheurs,
Le lion, le serpent, le monstre sanguinaire,
Qui nous fit tous mortels, en tuant notre père,
Et, par lui, nous causa d'éternelles douleurs. Il nous ouvrit la voie aux éternelles flammes,
Et ce bourreau cruel et des corps et des âmes,
Détruisit, d'un seul coup, le bonheur des humains. que Satan fit outrage.
Venge l'Original, en sauvant son image. English
Nature, lend me your darkest colours,
Provide, the blood of a panther for my table,
The venom of a dragon, the bile of a viper,
Finally a crocodile, and bubble up its tears. Today, I want to paint the artisan of sadness,
The lion, the snake, the bloodthirsty monster,
And by his, causes us eternal hardships.
He opened us to the path of the eternal flames,
And the cruel executioner and the bodies and the souls,
Destroyed, in one blow, the happiness of humanity. It's you, yourself that Satan outrages,
Man is your resemblance and the work of your hand:
Punish the original, by saving his image.
[Académie française]
He was often confused with Honorat de Porchères Laugier, who was also a member of the Académie Française. In 1634, he became one of the first twenty members of the Académie française.