born Sept. 11, 1524, La Possonnière, near Couture, France
died Dec. 27, 1585, Saint-Cosme, near Tours
French poet.
Of a noble family, Ronsard turned to scholarship and literature after an illness left him partially deaf. He was the foremost poet of La Pléiade, a literary group that used Classical and Italian models to elevate the French language as a medium for literary expression. He was recognized in his lifetime as a prince of poets; among his diverse works were Odes (1550), inspired by Horace ; Les Amours (1552); the unfinished La Franciade (1572), in imitation of Virgil 's Aeneid , meant to be the national epic; and Sonnets pour Hélène, now perhaps his most famous collection. He perfected and established the alexandrine as the classic form in French for scathing satire, elegiac tenderness, and tragic passion.