Jean Daurat facts for kids

Early modern period portrait

Jean Daurat (born Joan Dinemandy) was a famous French poet and scholar. He lived from 1508 to 1588. He was an important member of a well-known group of writers called The Pléiade.

Early Life and Education

Jean Daurat was born in Limoges, France, into a noble family. After studying at the College of Limoges, he moved to Paris. There, he was introduced to King Francis I of France. The King made him a tutor for his pages, who were young servants learning to become knights. Jean Daurat quickly became very famous for his deep knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman writings.

Leading the Pléiade Poets

Jean Daurat became the director of the Collège de Coqueret, a school in Paris. Here, he taught many young poets who would become very famous. Some of his students included Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay, and Antoine de Baif.

These young poets, guided by Daurat, formed a special group. They called themselves La Pléiade. Their main goal was to make the French language and literature better and more respected. They wanted French writing to be as great as the ancient Greek and Latin works. Daurat encouraged his students to study Greek and Latin poetry with great passion.

He himself wrote many poems in both Greek and Latin. People even called him "the modern Pindar", comparing him to a famous ancient Greek poet. His influence spread far beyond France, and he was known as a great scholar in countries like England, Italy, and Germany.

Royal Poet and Scholar

In 1556, Jean Daurat became a professor of Greek at the Collège Royal. This was a very important position. Later, in 1567, he gave up this job to his nephew.

King Charles IX gave him the special title of poeta regius, which means "the king's poet". Jean Daurat wrote an amazing number of poems during his life. It is said that he composed more than 15,000 verses in Greek and Latin! He published the best of these poems in Paris in 1586.

He passed away in Paris in 1588. By then, he had outlived almost all of his famous students from La Pléiade.

Jean Daurat is also known for something interesting in French theater. He is believed to have started the idea of the "claque." A claque was a group of people who were paid to clap loudly to make a play seem successful, or even boo to make it seem bad.

His Impact on Scholarship

Many experts say that Jean Daurat was the true starter of studying Greek poetry in France. His students, like Joseph Justus Scaliger, helped spread his ideas and discoveries. Daurat made many suggestions for fixing and understanding old Greek texts, especially a play called Agamemnon by Aeschylus. Even though he didn't publish all of his ideas himself, his students made sure they were shared.