Alphonse Marie de Lamartine

Alphonse Marie de Lamartine (1790-1869) was a French author, politician, and poet, born in Mâcon. His poetic effusions procured for him admission into the French Academy, and in 1834 he entered the Chamber of Deputies. His ability as a poet, and the independent attitude he maintained in the Chamber, gained for him a popularity which his action in 1848 contributed to increase, but it suffered eclipse from the moment he allied himself with Ledru-Rollin. After serving in the Provisional Government of 1848 he stood candidate for the Presidency, but was defeated, and on the occasion of the coup d'état, he retired into private life. He published in 1819 "Méditations Poétiques," in 1847 the "Histoire de Girondins," besides other works, including "Voyage en Orient". He was "of the second order of poets," says Professor Saintsbury, "sweet but not strong, elegant but not full;... a sentimentalist and a landscape painter".

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