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René Rapin
1621–1687
A Jesuit scholar and poet of 17th-century France, he was admired for bringing classical polish and sharp literary judgment to both Latin verse and prose. His writing ranges from garden poetry to influential criticism on epic and drama, giving a vivid glimpse of French literary life under Louis XIV.
1 Audiobook
De Carmine Pastorali
by René Rapin
About the author
Born in Tours in 1621, René Rapin entered the Society of Jesus in 1639 and went on to teach rhetoric. He wrote widely in both French and Latin, building a reputation as a learned and elegant stylist at a time when classical models shaped much of European literary culture.
Rapin is especially remembered for his Latin poems, including Eclogae Sacrae and Hortorum Libri IV, as well as for critical essays on major ancient writers such as Virgil, Aristotle, and Homer. His criticism helped define standards of taste in 17th-century France, and his reflections on poetry and drama were widely read.
He died in Paris in 1687. Today, he is often valued as both a creative writer and a literary critic: someone who could celebrate nature and sacred themes in verse while also explaining, with clarity and confidence, what made literature work.