BENSERADE, ISAAC DE (1613-169I) , French poet, was born in Paris, and baptized on Nov. 5, 1613. He enjoyed the patronage of Richelieu, and then of Anne of Austria. He wrote some indifferent plays, but enjoyed a great reputation until the failure of his version (1676) of the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Benserade would probably be forgotten but 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, a dispute on their relative merits 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 Scudery, while Mme. de Montausier and J. G. de Balzac took the side of Voiture.
Some years before his death Oct. 19, 1691, Benserade retired to Chantilly, and devoted himself to a translation of the Psalms, which he nearly completed.