1823-1891.
A precocious and voluminous writer, who delighted in playing with the
technical difficulties of lyric forms. His devotion to form was his
chief excellence and gave him a considerable influence on the group of
_Parnassiens_. He was especially responsible for the revival of the
fixed forms of the older French poetry. He took up and developed the
dictum of Saint-Beuve that rhyme is "_l'unique harmonie du vers_" and
his _Odes funambulesques_ sought even to make it a main means of comic
effect. His work is deficient in substance.
Works : _Les Cariatides_, 1842; _les Stalactites_, 1846; _Odelettes_,
1856; _Odes funambulesques_, 1857; _les Exilés_, 1860; _Idylles
prussiennes_, 1871; _les Princesses_, 1874; _Sonnailles et
Clochettes_, 1890; _Dans la fournaise. Dernières poésies_, 1892.
For reference: Sainte-Beuve, _Causeries du lundi_, vol. xiv; J.
Lemaître, _les Contemporains_, vol. i, 1886; A. Lang, _Essays in
Little_, London, 1891.