Théodore de Banville

in full
Étienne-Claude-Jean-Baptiste-Théodore-Faullain
de Banville
born
March 14, 1823, Moulins, France
died March 13, 1891, Paris
French poet of the mid-19th century who
was a late disciple of the Romantics, a
leader of the Parnassian movement, a
contributor to many of the literary
reviews of his time, and an influence on
the Symbolists.
His
first book of verse, Les Cariatides
(1842; “The Caryatids”), owed much to
the style and manner of Victor Hugo, but
Banville rejected the poor craftsmanship
of much French Romantic poetry. His
Petit Traité de poésie française (1872;
“Little Treatise on French Poetry”)
shows his interest in the technicalities
of versification, of which he became a
master. He considered rhyme to be the
single most important element in French
verse. Following the lead of the critic
Charles Sainte-Beuve, who had revived
interest in the sonnet, Banville
experimented with various fixed forms
that had been neglected since the
mid-16th century—e.g., the ballade and
the rondeau. The chief quality of his
poetry is its technical virtuosity, but
contemporaries also admired its delicate
wit and fantasy. His best-known
collection is Les Odes funambulesques
(1857; “Fantastic Odes”).