Boileau, Nicolas

Boileau (-Despréaux), Nicolas

(born Nov. 1, 1636, Paris, France—died March 13, 1711, Paris) French poet and literary critic. His L'Art poétique (1674), a didactic treatise in verse setting out rules of composition of poetry in the classical tradition, provides valuable insight into the literary controversies of the period. He also translated the classical treatise On the Sublime, attributed to Longinus, which ironically became a key source of the aesthetics of Romanticism. His works upheld classical standards in both French and English literature.