Nicolas Boileau

Studying theology and law before committing to literature, Boileau published caustic Satires and Épîtres, skewering bad verse and defending his close friends Molière, Jean Racine, and La Fontaine against academic pedants.

In his didactic verse treatise L'Art poétique (1674), Boileau established the doctrine of French Classicism: imitation of nature through reason, the three dramatic unities, and clear expression ('Ce que l'on conçoit bien s'énonce clairement'). Appointed royal historiographer to Louis XIV alongside Racine, he championed the Ancients in the Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes.