Sully-Prudhomme, René François Armand

Sully-Prudhomme, René François Armand (rənā` fräNswä` ärmäN` sülē`-prüdôm`), 1839–1907, French poet associated with the Parnassians. His early poetry, including Stances et poèmes (1865), Les Épreuves (1866), Les Solitudes (1869), and Les Vaines Tendresses (1875), was subjective and melancholy. His major works are two long philosophical poems, La Justice (1878) and Le Bonheur [happiness] (1888), which treat abstract, humanitarian themes. His prose, also philosophical, includes Que sais-je? [what do I know?] (1896). In 1901 he was awarded the first Nobel Prize in literature.