COPPE, FRANOIS

born Jan. 26, 1842, Paris, Fr. died May 23, 1908, Paris French poet, known for his somewhat sentimental treatment of the life of the poor. Coppe served as a clerk in the Ministry of War and was successful in 1869 with a play, Le Passant. His best-known and most characteristic collection of verse is Les Humbles (1872). He was elected to the Acadmie Franaise in 1884. In 1898, after a serious illness, he was reconverted to Roman Catholicism; that same year he published La Bonne Souffrance, a novel arising from this experience. Coppe's reputation has been diminished because of his involvement in nationalist and racialist politics. Return to religion seemed to intensify his patriotic sentiments. He was active on behalf of the prosecution against the Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus, whose trial on a charge of treason divided France. Coppe later helped to found the anti-Semitic Ligue de la Patrie Franaise (French Fatherland League).