Alphonse Lamartine French poet and statesman.amartine Date of Birth: 21.10.1790 Country: France

Biography of Alphonse de Lamartine

Alphonse de Lamartine was a French poet and statesman, born on October 21, 1790, in Mâcon. He spent his childhood and youth mostly in rural areas. Lamartine's lyrical collection, "Méditations poétiques" (Poetic Meditations, 1820), was a tremendous success. It was in this book that the poetic expression of moods, previously conveyed in the prose of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, and François-René de Chateaubriand, first found its place - vague melancholy, sublime love, acute longing, religious ecstasy, and merging with nature. Lamartine further developed these themes, more skillfully but less directly, in "La Mort de Socrate" (The Death of Socrates, 1823) and "Nouvelles Méditations poétiques" (New Poetic Meditations, 1823).

In 1830, Lamartine published his "Harmonies poétiques et religieuses" (Poetic and Religious Harmonies), permeated with the spirit of pantheism. Having dedicated many years to diplomatic service, Lamartine left it after the revolution of 1830. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. His "Histoire des girondins" (History of the Girondins, 1847) contributed to the formation of public sentiment that led to the February Revolution of 1848. He briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and head of the Provisional Government. However, Louis Bonaparte's coup put an end to Lamartine's political career. Nonetheless, he never stopped writing. He penned poems such as "Jocelyn" (1836) and "La Chute d'un ange" (The Fall of an Angel, 1838), autobiographical novels "Raphaël" (1849) and "Graziella" (1852), memoirs, and works on history and literature. Lamartine passed away in Paris on February 28, 1869.