Editing Isaac de Benserade

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'''Isaac de Benserade''' ({{IPA|fr|bɛ̃.sʁad|lang}}; baptized 5 November 1613{{snd}}10 October 1691) was a French poet and playwright.

Born in [[Lyons-la-Forêt]], [[Normandy]], his family appears to have been connected with [[Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu|Richelieu]], who bestowed on him a pension of 600 ''livres''. On Richelieu's death, Benserade lost his pension but became more and more a favourite at court, especially with [[Anne of Austria]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Benserade, Isaac de|volume=3|page=744}}</ref>

He wrote his first tragedy at the age of 23 in 1636, ''Cleopatra'', for the actress [[Mademoiselle Bellerose]]. His first comedy was ''[[:fr:Iphis et Iante|Iphis and Iante]]'', which first opened in the [[Hôtel de Bourgogne (theatre)|Hôtel de Bourgogne]] in 1634. This play touches on female homosexuality in the form of cross-dressing, which was a commonplace in French literature in the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Legault |first=Marianne |date=2007 |title=Iphis & Iante : traumatisme de l'incomplétude lesbienne au Grand Siècle |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40837889 |journal=Dalhousie French Studies |volume=81 |pages=83–93 |jstor=40837889 |issn=0711-8813}}</ref>

Benserade provided the words for the court ballets and was in 1674 admitted to the [[French Academy]], where he wielded considerable influence. In 1675, he provided the quatrains to accompany the 39 hydraulic sculpture groups depicting [[Aesop's fables]] in [[the labyrinth of Versailles]]. In 1676, the failure of his ''Métamorphoses d'Ovide'' in the form of [[rondeau (poetry)|rondeaux]] gave a blow to his reputation but by no means destroyed his vogue with his contemporaries. Benserade may be best known for his sonnet on ''Job'' (1651). The sonnet, which he sent to a young lady with his paraphrase on [[Book of Job|Job]], was placed in competition with the ''Urania'' of [[Vincent Voiture|Voiture]] and led to a dispute on their relative merits that long divided the whole court and the wits into two parties, styled respectively the Jobelins and the Uranists. The partisans of Benserade were headed by the [[François Louis, Prince of Conti|prince de Conti]] and [[Madeleine de Scudéry|Mlle de Scudéry]], and Mme de Montausier and [[Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac]] took the side of Voiture.<ref name="EB1911" />

Some years before his death, Benserade retired to [[Gentilly, Val-de-Marne|Gentilly]] and devoted himself to a translation of the [[Psalms]], which he nearly completed.<ref name="EB1911"/>

== Works ==

* 1636 ''Cléopâtre''
* 1637 ''La Mort d’Achille et la Dispute de ses armes''
* 1637 ''Gustaphe ou l’Heureuse Ambition''
* 1637 ''Iphis et Iante''
* 1640 ''Méléagre''
* 1648 ''Le Sonnet de Job''
* 1651 ''Ballet de Cassandre''<!-- 26 Feb 1651 per Isherwood 1973, p. 135 -->
* 1651 ''Ballet des Fêtes de Bacchus''<!-- 2 May 1651 per Isherwood 1973, p. 136 -->
* 1653 ''[[Ballet de la Nuit]]''
* 1654 ''Ballet des Proverbes''
* 1654 ''Ballet des Noces de Pélée et de Thétis''
* 1654 ''Ballet du Temps''
* 1655 ''Ballet des Plaisirs''
* 1655 ''Grand Ballet des Bienvenus''
* 1656 ''Ballet de Psyché''
* 1657 ''Ballet de l’Amour malade''
* 1658 ''Ballet royal d’Alcidiane''
* 1659 ''Ballet de la Raillerie''
* 1661 ''Ballet royal de l’Impatience''
* 1661 ''Ballet des Saisons''
* 1663 ''Ballet des Arts''
* 1664 ''Ballet des Amours déguisés''
* 1664 ''[[Les Plaisirs de l'île enchantée]]''
* 1665 ''Ballet royal de la Naissance de Vénus''
* 1666 ''Ballet des Muses''
* 1669 ''Ballet royal de Flore''
* 1676 ''Métamorphoses d’Ovide en rondeaux''
* 1678 ''Fables d'Ésope en quatrains''
* 1681 ''Ballet du Triomphe de l’Amour''
* 1682 ''Labyrinte de Versailles''
* Stances

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Isaac de Benserade}}

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{{Académie française Seat 7}}

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benserade, Isaac de}}
[[Category:1613 births]]
[[Category:1691 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Eure]]
[[Category:Writers from Normandy]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:17th-century French poets]]
[[Category:17th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]