The directory «Plots»

Desbordes-Valmore Marceline
(1785-1859)
Poems for children

Marceline Desbordes-Valmore was a French poet. She was born in Douai. Following the French Revolution and the ruin of her family, they emigrated to Guadeloupe, whereupon Marceline's mother died of yellow fever. Actress and singer, she would later appear in Douai, Rouen, Paris 'Opéra-Comique', 'Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, where she notably played Rosine in the Barber of Seville of Beaumarchais. She retired from the stage in 1823. She lost her five-year old child in 1816, born from her first marriage. She would remarry in 1817 with the actor Prosper Lanchantin-Valmore, and thence published her first poetic work in 1819 Élégies et Romances, and then in 1825, Élégies et poésie nouvelles. Despite a somewhat interrupted education, she is known for a compulsive spontaneity in her verses, delicate arrangements of musical sounds and rhythm. After a lifetime of close deaths and various instances of bad luck (she lost four children). She died in Paris.11

France, 1959, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

France, 1959.06.20, Douai. Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

France, 1986.11.15, Douai. Marceline Desbordes-Valmore