A precocious and voluminous writer, who delighted in playing with the technical difficulties of lyric forms. His devotion to form was his chief excellence and gave him a considerable influence on the group of _Parnassiens_. He was especially responsible for the revival of the fixed forms of the older French poetry. He took up and developed the dictum of Saint-Beuve that rhyme is "_l'unique harmonie du vers_" and his _Odes funambulesques_ sought even to make it a main means of comic effect. His work is deficient in substance. Works : _Les Cariatides_, 1842; _les Stalactites_, 1846; _Odelettes_, 1856; _Odes funambulesques_, 1857; _les Exilés_, 1860; _Idylles prussiennes_, 1871; _les Princesses_, 1874; _Sonnailles et Clochettes_, 1890; _Dans la fournaise. Dernières poésies_, 1892. For reference: Sainte-Beuve, _Causeries du lundi_, vol. xiv; J. Lemaître, _les Contemporains_, vol. i, 1886; A. Lang, _Essays in Little_, London, 1891. 234. LA CHANSON DE MA MIE. MA MIE, see note on 165, 25. 235. BALLADE DES PENDUS. From the comedy _Gringoire_ (1866). 20. FLORE, the Roman goddess of fruits and flowers. 26. _du roi Louis_ ; Louis XI. (1461-1487), whose measures to break down feudalism and establish the power of the monarchy are notorious. HENRI DE BORNIER. 1825. Primarily a dramatic poet, he obtained one of the striking successes of the latter half of the century by his drama _la Fille de Roland_ (1875) which, evoking memories of recent disaster and the dearest hopes of France, deeply touched the patriotic sentiment of his country. His lyric poems make but one volume. Works: _Les Premières Feuilles, 1845_; the volume _Poésiescomplètes, 1881_, contains, besides the poems of the first volume, a number that appeared at intervals, several of which received prizes from the Academy, as _l'Isthme de Suez_, 1861, and _la France dans l'extrême Orient_, 1863; _Poésies complètes,_ new edition, 1894. ANDRE THEURIET. 1833. Though now best known as a novelist, he began as a poet, and it is not certain that he will not finally be best remembered for his verse. His eyes and his sympathies are for the woods and fields and for the simple toilers whose lives lie close to them. He has instilled into his poems something of the odors of the forest and of the soil. Works: _Le Chemin des bois_, 1867 ; _les Paysans de l'Argonne, 1792._ 1871; _le Bleu et le Noir_, 1873; _le Livre de la Payse_, 1882. For reference: E. Besson, _André Theuriet, sa vie et ses oeuvres_, 1890. 237. BRUNETTE. From _le Bleu et le Noir._ 238. LES PAYSANS. From _le Livre de la Payse._ GEORGES LAFENESTRE. 1837. Though he is perhaps more widely known as a critic of art than as a poet, his poems have a certain distinction by reason of their deep and serious thought and their clear and noble expression. Works: _Les Espérances_, 1864; _Idylles et Chansons_, 1874. The poems here given are from _Idylles et Chansons_. 240. 21. MICHEL-ANGE, Michaelangelo. FÉLIX FRANK. 1837.