Etienne JODELLE
Sieur du Lymodin, French poet, born in Paris in 1532, died in 1573.
In the restoration of ancient poetry attempted by the Pléiade, he took charge of dramatic poetry. The dazzling performance of Cléopâtre captive in the courtyard of the Hôtel des Archevêques de Reims, rue du Paon, in 1552 marked an important date in French literary history. This is the first attempt at classical tragedy. According to Brantôme, King Henry II gave the poet 500 écus “from his savings”. At the carnival in 1553, Jodelle and his friends went to Arcueil to celebrate the triumph of dramatic art. They seized a goat and brought it, crowned with foliage, to the tragic poet. This joke, recounted by Ronsard in the Folasstrissime voyage d’Hercueil, is the limit of the alleged pagan sacrifice mentioned in the legend . It is above all as an initiator that Jodelle deserves credit from French tragedy, for his imitation is slavish, his style rough, and his versification not very regular. Ronsard, who had admired him at first, later showed himself to be more severe.
Jodelle also wrote Didon se sacrifiant, a tragedy; Eugène, a comedy; La Rencontre, a lost comedy; a Recueil des inscriptions, figures, devises, et mascarades ordonnées à l’Hôtel de Ville de Paris le jeudi 17 février 1558; l’Hyménée du roi CharlesIX, les Amours.
His works were collected by Charles de La Motte (1574), then by Marty Laveaux (1868-1870).
Jodelle was also an architect, painter, sculptor and skilled fencer.