Jodelle, Étienne (1532-73). Dramatist, poet, and member of the Pléiade, Jodelle was born in Paris of modest origins, educated at the Collège de Boncourt, and is remembered essentially for having written the first classical French tragedy ( Cléopâtre captive, 1552/3). A second lyrical tragedy, Didon se sacrifiant (written in 1555), appeared in Jodelle's collective works (1574), and his Eugène (composed 1552) marked an important stage in the restoration of classical comedy advocated in the Défense et illustration. Disgraced at court because of a disastrous entertainment he organized in honour of Henri II and François de Lorraine (February 1558), Jodelle spent the 1560s attempting to regain favour by composing anti-Protestant and official court poetry. Although admitted to the salon of the maréchale de Retz, he died in July 1573 in poverty and abject misery.
Besides his dramatic work, the Œuvres et mélanges poétiques (1574) contain poetry covering a lengthy creative period and a diversity of inspirations (including love sonnets addressed to the maréchale de Retz, a bitter collection of Contr' Amours, and violent poems directed against the Protestants and approving of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre). Jodelle's verse is characterized by an emotional intensity, a verbal virulence, a disturbing vision, and a rhythmical energy admired by d'Aubigné and judged ‘mannerist’ or ‘pre-baroque’ by certain critics.
[Malcolm Quainton]
