Complex sentence: Conversely, Robespierre's impassioned defense of the march raised his public profile considerably: the episode gave him a lasting heroic status among the "poissardes" and burnished his reputation as a patron of the poor.
Split into simpler sentences: Conversely, Robespierre's impassioned defense of the march raised his public profile considerably. The episode gave him a lasting heroic status among the "poissardes" and burnished his reputation as a patron of the poor.