DU BELLAY, JOACHIM

(ca. 1522-1560)

French poet, second only toPierre de Ronsardamong the group of court poets known asLa Pléiade. Like others of this school, he strove to capture and express the spirit of the great poets ofclassical antiquityin his native language. He is best known for a prose manifesto,Défense et illustration de la langue française/Defense and Illustration of the French Language(1549), which advocated a program to enrich both the language and its literature through imitation of ancientGreekand Latin literature as well as works of the Italian Renaissance. Among his poems, the collection of sonnets known asLes Regretsis most highly regarded.