thumb|isaac de benserade (1674)  isaac de benserade (; baptized november 5, 1613 â october 10, 1691) was a french poet. born in lyons-la-forÃªt in the province of normandy, his family appears to have been connected with richelieu, who bestowed on him a pension of 600 livres. he began his literary career with the tragedy of clÃ©opÃ¢tre (1635), which was followed by four other pieces. on richelieu's death benserade lost his pension, but became more and more a favourite at court, especially with anne of austria. benserade provided the words for the court ballets, and was, in 1674, admitted to the academy, where he wielded considerable influence. in 1675 he provided the quatrains to accompany the thirty nine hydraulic sculpture groups depicting aesop's fables in the labyrinth of versailles. in 1676 the failure of his mÃ©tamorphoses d'ovide in the form of rondeaux gave a blow to his reputation, but by no means destroyed his vogue with his contemporaries. benserade may be best known for his sonnet on job (1651). this sonnet, which he sent to a young lady with his paraphrase on job, having been placed in competition with the urania of voiture, led to a dispute on their relative merits which long divided the whole court and the wits into two parties, styled respectively the jobelins and the uranists. the partisans of benserade were headed by the prince de conti and mlle de scudÃ©ry, while mme de montausier and jean-louis guez de balzac took the side of voiture. some years before his death, benserade retired to gentilly, and devoted himself to a translation of the psalms, which he nearly completed. == works == * 1636 clÃ©opÃ¢tre * 1637 la mort dâachille et la dispute de ses armes * 1637 gustaphe ou lâheureuse ambition * 1637 iphis et iante * 1640 mÃ©lÃ©agre * 1648 le sonnet de job * 1651 ballet de cassandre * 1651 ballet des fÃªtes de bacchus * 1653 ballet de la nuit * 1654 ballet des proverbes * 1654 ballet des noces de pÃ©lÃ©e et de thÃ©tis * 1654 ballet du temps * 1655 ballet des plaisirs * 1655 grand ballet des bienvenus * 1656 ballet de psychÃ© * 1657 ballet de lâamour malade * 1658 ballet royal dâalcidiane * 1659 ballet de la raillerie * 1661 ballet royal de lâimpatience * 1661 ballet des saisons * 1663 ballet des arts * 1664 ballet des amours dÃ©guisÃ©s * 1664 les plaisirs de l'Ã®le enchantÃ©e * 1665 ballet royal de la naissance de vÃ©nus * 1666 ballet des muses * 1669 ballet royal de flore * 1676 mÃ©tamorphoses dâovide en rondeaux * 1678 fables d'Ãsope en quatrains * 1681 '
1613_births 1691_deaths 17th-century_French_poets 17th-century_French_writers Members_of_the_AcadA(c)mie_franASSaise People_from_Eure