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Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye, sieur des Yveteaux
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Born:
1536, La Fresnaye-au-Sauvage or Caen, Fr.
Died:
1606/08, Caen
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Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye, sieur des Yveteaux

French magistrate, poet, and moralist
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History

Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye, sieur (lord) des Yveteaux (born 1536, La Fresnaye-au-Sauvage or Caen, Fr.—died 1606/08, Caen) was a French magistrate, poet, and moralist who was credited with introducing satire to France as a literary genre.

Vauquelin studied the humanities at Paris and law at Poitiers and Bourges, later practicing as a magistrate in Caen. His poetic theory, based on that of Pierre de Ronsard, preserved the tenets of the literary circle known as La Pléiade and attempted to promote a pure, classical style. Vauquelin’s poetic works include Les Deux Premiers Livres des foresteries (1555; “The Two First Books of Forestry”); Idillies et pastorales, published with his verse L’Art poétique (1605); five books entitled Satires (1581–85); and some sonnets, epigrams, and epitaphs. L’Art poétique, commissioned by Henry III in 1574, reflects Vauquelin’s lifelong effort to persuade his fellow writers to abide by the precepts of Aristotle and Horace. He urged them to avoid Italianate excesses and to cultivate a pure French style, devoid of dialect, in works that were moral, didactic, and based upon logic.

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