François de Malherbe

Serving Henri d'Angoulême in Provence before being presented to King Henry IV in Paris in 1605, Malherbe was appointed Gentleman of the King's Chamber. He became the tyrannical arbiter of Parisian literary taste, ruthlessly pruning the exuberant Renaissance vocabulary of Ronsard and the Pléiade.

Malherbe demanded mathematical precision in alexandrine caesuras, pure rhymes, and logical clarity, declaring that poets must speak the language of Paris market-porters ('les crocheteurs du Port au Foin'). His famous Consolation à M. du Périer contained the immortal line: 'Et Rose, elle a vécu ce que vivent les roses / L'espace d'un matin'.