"Thou, then, who devotest thyself to the service of the Muses, turn thee to the Greek, Latin, and even Spanish and Italian authors, from whence thou mayest derive a more exquisite form of poetry than from our French authors. In no way trust to the examples of such of our own as have acquired a great renown, with little or no science; and do not allege that poets are born, for this would be too easy a method of achieving immortality. Therefore read and re-read day and night Greek and Latin models, and leave to me all those old French poems for the Floral Games of Toulouse and the Puy de Rouen, such as rondeaux, ballads, virelays, chants royal, chansons, and other suchlike sweetmeats, which corrupt the taste of our language, and only serve to testify to our ignorance."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Défense et illustration de la langue françoise (1549). Qtd. by Irma Dreyfus, Lectures on French Literature, Tr. James Smith (1896), pp. 97–8
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joachim_du_Bellay
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Joachim du Bellay
(c. 1522 – 1 January 1560) was a French poet, literary critic, and a founder of '. He notably wrote the manifesto of the group: Défense et illustration de la langue française, which aimed at promoting French as an artistic language, equal to Greek and Latin.
9 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Joachim du Bellay →
Related Quotes
"Languages do not spring up like plants, some weak and sickly, others healthy and robust. All their virtue lies in the…"
"When you pass from the text to the translation, you seem to travel from the burning mountain of Etna to the icy summi…"
"The Romans well knew how to enrich their language without applying themselves to the labour of translation. They imit…"
"Rome de Rome est le seul monument Et Rome Rome a vaincu seulement."
"Vois quel orgueil, quelle ruine: et comme Celle qui mit le monde sous ses lois, Pour dompter tout, se dompta quelquef…"
"Sacrés coteaux, et vous saintes ruines, Qui le seul nom de Rome retenez, Vieux monuments, qui encor soutenez L'honneu…"
"France, mère des arts, des armes et des lois ..."
"Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage, Ou comme cestui là qui conquit la toison, Et puis est retourné, ple…"
"Non, La Harpe au Serpent n'a jamais ressemble; Le Serpent siffle, et La Harpe est sifflé."
"Chloé, belle et poète, a deux petits travers: Elle fait son visage et ne fait pas ses vers."