Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

JODELLE, ETIENNE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 427 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

JODELLE, See also:ETIENNE , seigneur de Limodin (1532–1573), See also:French dramatist and poet, was See also:born in See also:Paris of a See also:noble See also:family. He attached himself to the poetic circle of the Pleiade (see See also:DAURAT) and proceeded to apply the principles of the reformers to dramatic See also:composition. Jodelle aimed at creating a classical See also:drama that should be in every respect different from the moralities and soties that then occupied the French See also:stage. His first See also:play, Cleopdtre See also:captive, was represented before the See also:court at See also:Reims in 1552. Jodelle himself took the See also:title role, and the See also:cast included his See also:friends Remy See also:Belleau and See also:Jean de la Peruse. In See also:honour of the play's success the friends organized a little fete at See also:Arcueil when a See also:goat garlanded with See also:flowers was led in procession and presented to the author—a ceremony exaggerated by the enemies of the Ronsardists into a renewal of the See also:pagan See also:rites of the See also:worship of Bacchus. Jodelle wrote two other plays. See also:Eugene, a See also:comedy satirizing the See also:superior See also:clergy, had less success than it deserved. Its See also:preface poured scorn on Jodelle's predecessors in comedy, but in reality his own methods are not so very different from theirs. See also:Didon se sacrifiant, a tragedy which follows See also:Virgil's narrative, appears never to have been represented. Jodelle died in poverty in See also:July 1573. His See also:works were collected the See also:year after his See also:death by See also:Charles de la Mothe.

They include a quantity of See also:

miscellaneous See also:verse dating chiefly from Jodelle's youth. The See also:intrinsic value of his tragedies is small. Cleopdtre is lyric rather than dramatic. Throughout the five acts of the piece nothing actually happens. The death of Antony is announced by his See also:ghost in the first See also:act; the See also:story of See also:Cleopatra's See also:suicide is related, but not represented, in the fifth. Each act is terminated by a See also:chorus which moralizes on such subjects as the inconstancy of See also:fortune and the judgments of See also:heaven on human See also:pride. But the play was the starting-point of French classical tragedy, and was soon followed by the Medee (1553) of Jean de la Peruse and the Aman (1561) of See also:Andre de Rivaudeau. Jodelle was a rapid worker, but idle and fond of dissipation. His friend See also:Ronsard said that his published poems gave Do adequate See also:idea of his See also:powers. Jodelle's works are collected (1868) in the Pleiade francaise of Charles Marty-Laveaux. The prefatory See also:notice gives full See also:information of the See also:sources of Jodelle's See also:biography, and La Mothe's See also:criticism is reprinted in its entirety.

End of Article: JODELLE, ETIENNE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
JOCKEY 		[next]
JODHPUR, or MARWAR

Site © 2006 - Net Industries