AUTRAN, JOSEPH (1813-77), French poet, was born at Marseilles on June 20 1813, and died in that city on March 6 1877. His best known work is La Mer (1835), remodelled in 1852 as Les Poemes de la mer. Another important work is his Vie rurale (1856), a series of pictures of peasant life. Among his writings is a tragedy, La Fille d'Eschyle, played with great success at the Odeon in 1848. A definitive edition of his works was brought out between 1875 and 1881.