Editing Pierre Corneille (section)

===Response to the ''Querelle du Cid''===
After a hiatus from the theater, Corneille returned in 1640. The ''Querelle du Cid'' caused Corneille to pay closer attention to classical dramatic rules. This was evident in his next plays, which were [[classical antiquity|classical]] [[tragedies]], ''[[Horace (play)|Horace]]'' (1640, dedicated to [[Cardinal Richelieu|Richelieu]]), ''[[Cinna (play)|Cinna]]'' (1643), and ''[[Polyeucte]]'' (1643). These three plays and ''Le Cid'' are collectively known as Corneille's "Classical Tetralogy". Corneille also responded to the criticisms of the Académie by making multiple revisions to ''Le Cid'' to make it closer to the conventions of classical tragedy. The 1648, 1660, and 1682 editions were no longer subtitled "[[tragicomedy]]", but "tragedy".
[[File:Adrienne lecouvreur dans cornlie.jpg|thumb|[[Adrienne Lecouvreur]] as Cornelia in ''[[The Death of Pompey]]'']]
Corneille's popularity grew and by the mid-1640s, the first collection of his plays was published. Corneille married Marie de Lampérière in 1641. They had seven children together. In the mid to late 1640s, Corneille produced mostly tragedies, ''La Mort de Pompée'' (''[[The Death of Pompey]]'', performed 1644), ''[[Rodogune]]'' (performed 1645), ''[[Théodore (Corneille)|Théodore]]'' (performed 1646), and ''[[Héraclius]]'' (performed 1647). He also wrote one comedy in this period, ''[[Le Menteur]]'' (''The Liar'', 1644).

In 1652, the play ''[[Pertharite]]'' met with poor critical reviews and a disheartened Corneille decided to quit the theatre. He began to focus on an influential verse translation of ''[[The Imitation of Christ]]'' by [[Thomas à Kempis]], which he completed in 1656. After an absence of nearly eight years, Corneille was persuaded to return to the stage in 1659. He wrote the play ''[[Oedipe (Corneille)|Oedipe]]'', which was favored by [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]]. In the next year, Corneille published ''[[Trois discours sur le poème dramatique]]'' (''[[Three Discourses on Dramatic Poetry]]''), which were, in part, defenses of his style. These writings can be seen as Corneille's response to the ''Querelle du Cid''. He simultaneously maintained the importance of classical dramatic rules and justified his own transgressions of those rules in ''Le Cid''. Corneille argued the [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] dramatic guidelines were not meant to be subject to a strict literal reading. Instead, he suggested that they were open to interpretation. Although the relevance of classical rules was maintained, Corneille suggested that the rules should not be so tyrannical that they stifle innovation.