C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Pierre Jean de Béranger (1780–1857)
Béranger, Pierre Jean de (bā-ro
-zhā’). A French poet; born in Paris, Aug. 19, 1780; died there, July 16, 1857. His father took him to Paris in 1802; but they soon quarreled, and he began life in that garret which became famous. In 1804, Lucien Bonaparte helped him out of his distress by giving him a clerkship in the Imperial University. Meanwhile he had composed many convivial and political songs, but it did not occur to him to write them down until 1812. They were so universally sung that he could have dispensed with the printing-press. When his poems were published in 1815, he was recognized as the champion of the faction opposed to the Bourbons. His popularity with the working-classes was immense, and he made the song a powerful political weapon. His republicanism and enthusiasm for Napoleon suited the multitude. Two volumes published in 1821 led to his imprisonment; and another in 1825 caused a second incarceration. ‘New Songs’ appeared in 1830, and his ‘Autobiography’ in 1840. In 1848 he was elected to Parliament, but begged to be released. His songs are full of wit, light-heartedness, and musical grace, ranging in theme from epicurean trivialities to passionate and burning social and political satire. Among the best are the ‘King of Yvetot’; ‘The Old Flag’; ‘The Old Corporal’; ‘Roger Bontemps’; ‘My Grandmother’; ‘Little Red Man’; ‘Little Gray Man’; and ‘The Marquis of Carabas.’ (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).