1762-1794.
The most genuine poet of the eighteenth century. Born at Constantinople
of a Greek mother, he knew Greek early and fed himself on the Greek
poets, imbibing something of their spirit. His elegies, idyls, and odes
are not mere repetitions of the conventional commonplaces, but new,
original, and vigorous in idea and expression. He anticipated the
Romanticists in breaking over the received rules of versification and
in giving greater flexibility and variety to the Alexandrine line.
Works : _Poésies_, first published by H. de Latouche, 1819; later
editions are by Becq de Fouquières, 1862 and 1872; G. de Chénier, with
new material, 3 vols., 1874; by Louis Moland, 2 vols., 1878-79.
For reference: Sainte-Beuve, _Portraits littéraires_, vol. i;
_Portraits contemporains_, vols, ii and v; _Causeries du lundi_, vol.
iv; _Nouveaux lundis_, vol. iii; E. Faguet, _le Dix- huitième siècle_,
1890; E. Caro, _la Fin du dix-huitième siècle_, vol. ii, 1882; J.
Haraszti, _la Poésie d'André Chénier_, 1892.
32. LA JEUNE CAPTIVE. This, as well as the _Iambes_ following, was
written in the Saint-Lazare prison shortly before Chénier was sent
to the guillotine. The young captive was Mlle. Aimée de Coigny; she
escaped the guillotine and afterwards married M. de Montrond; she died
in 1820.
33. 18. PHILOMÈLE; Philomela was daughter of Pandion, king of Athens.
Pursued by Tereus, king of Thrace, she was changed into a nightingale.
The name is frequently employed in poetry for the nightingale.