PELETIER, JACQUES

born 1517, Le Mans, France died 1582, Paris byname Jacques Peletier Du Mans (of Le Mans) French poet and critic whose knowledge and love of Greek and Latin poetry influenced the group of French poetry reformers known as La Pliade. In the preface to his translation of Horace's Ars Poetica (1545) and in his Art potique franaise (1555; French Poetic Art), he put forward his own program for the reform of French poetry. He insisted that poets must imitate the classics if French literature was to rise to great heights. In addition to lyric poetry, Peletier wrote major works on mathematics and spelling reform.