Jean racine biography rapides

Racine's plays displayed his mastery of the dodecasyllabic 12 syllable French alexandrine. His writing is renowned for its elegance, purity, speed, and fury, [ 7 ] [ 8 ] and for what American poet Robert Lowell described as a "diamond-edge", [ 9 ] and the "glory of its hard, electric rage". Orphaned by the age of four his mother died in and his father in , he came into the care of his grandparents.

At the death of his grandfather in , his grandmother, Marie des Moulins, went to live in the convent of Port-Royal and took her grandson with her.

Telle que décrite: très bon

Port-Royal was run by followers of Jansenism , a theology condemned as heretical by the French bishops and the Pope. Racine's interactions with the Jansenists in his years at this academy would have great influence over him for the rest of his life. At Port-Royal, he excelled in his studies of the classics and the themes of Greek and Roman mythology would play large roles in his future works.

Experimenting with poetry drew high praise from France's greatest literary critic, Nicolas Boileau , with whom Racine would later become great friends; Boileau would often claim that he was behind the budding poet's work. Racine eventually took up residence in Paris where he became involved in theatrical circles. His first play, Amasie , never reached the stage.

Thus, Alexandre premiered for the second time, by a different acting troupe, eleven days after its first showing. He broke all ties with Port-Royal, and proceeded with Andromaque , which told the story of Andromache , widow of Hector , and her fate following the Trojan War. Amongst his rivals were Pierre Corneille and his brother, Thomas Corneille.

The success of Pradon's work the result of the activities of a claque was one of the events which caused Racine to renounce his work as a dramatist at that time, even though his career up to this point was so successful that he was the first French author to live almost entirely on the money he earned from his writings. Others, including the historian Warren Lewis , attribute his retirement from the theater to qualms of conscience.