Jean de La Fontaine

Born in Château-Thierry in 1621, Jean de La Fontaine became one of the most widely read poets of 17th-century France. He is remembered above all for the Fables, published across several collections from 1668 to 1694, which drew on Aesop and other traditions while giving the stories a distinctly elegant, witty, and human voice.

La Fontaine moved in literary and aristocratic circles in Paris and was supported by important patrons during his career. Alongside the fables, he also wrote verse tales, poems, libretti, and plays, showing a range that went far beyond the schoolbook image many readers know today.

What makes his writing last is its balance of charm and insight. His animals speak and scheme like people, and the lessons are rarely heavy-handed; instead, they reveal vanity, greed, pride, foolishness, and good sense with humor and grace. He was elected to the Académie française in 1684 and died in Paris in 1695.