Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux was born on 1 November 1636, and spent his career as a poet and critic with one overriding mission: reform. French poetry at the time leaned baroque and heavy; Boileau, drawing hard on Horace, stripped it back to clarity and discipline. His work ran parallel to Blaise Pascal's overhaul of prose—two men, same generation, both wielding economy as a weapon. He became the arbiter of classical French taste, the voice that said less could mean more. He died on 13 March 1711, leaving French letters leaner than he found them.