LAMARTINE, ALPHONSE DE (1790-I569). A French lyric poet and states man, born October 21, 1790, at his father's estate at Milly, near M5con, in Burgundy. The poet was reared in an atmosphere of Catholic piety. and of ardent devotion to roy alty. He seems to have felt very early the beauty of external nature. Lamartine's educa tion was at first intrusted to a priest. Later he attended several not very good schools, and he gathered knowledge by desultory reading. and by his own observation, either in France, in Italy, or in the Orient. On the fall of Napoleon he joined the (garde Royale, which he soon quitted. In 1820 lie published his Meditations poetiques, which struck a note new to French poetry. With Lc lac, L'automne, La fr•ere, L'immortalite we catch the first harmonies of the romantic lyric. in forum the .Meditations were as lacking in precision as was the character of Lamartine. Technical flaws are still more numerous in the Nourelles m ed t a t ions ( 1S23) and in the Harmonies (1829) Lamartine's tirst outburst was his best. He was not a great thinker and his emotions were soon expressed, yet he was still to write some of the vaguest, sweetest verse in French litera ture. In Jocelyn (1836), an epic idyll in Alex andrines, we have the story of a youth who by sacrificing everything that most men desire at tains peace of soul. In La clinic d'un ange (18381 the angel Adar leaves heaven that he may live on earth with Daldha, a daughter of the (Mints. With the liccueillements (1839) Lamartine returns to the manner of ISM, adding nothing to the theme. in 1820 he had married at Chamb•ry an English girl. Miss Birch. Soon afterwards he went to ltal• on and there he had experiences embodied in Gra:iella (1852), an elegy in prose, ending in a poem. In 1829 Lamartine was elected to the Academy. With the year 1830, in which appeared the Harmonies poetigu•s et religieuscs, the diplomatic career of the poet, who had been employed in various legations in Italy, came to an end. He tried to get a seat in the Chamber, but failing, he with his wife and daughter set sail in 1832 at Marseilles for the Orient. a pil grimage of sixteen months, which resulted in the Souvenirs, impressions,•pensees et paysages pendant an voyage en Orient (4 vols., 1839). La martine, who during his absence had been elected to the Chamber as Deputy from Bergues, Lc Nord, took his seat soon after his return from the East.
Be at once commanded attention by his eloquence and gradually drifted toward Republieanisin. In 1847 he came out with his Histoire des Girondins, a work of slight historical value. but whose bril liant rhetoric helped to bring about the Revolu tion of 1848. After the February upheaval La martine was a member of the provisional Gov ernment, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. and represented ten departments in the Constituent Assembly. enjoying for a few mouths an immense popularity, which, however, he lost through the insurrection in June. His lame apology was made in Trois »lois as nouvoir (1848), and in the Histoire de la revolution de 18'18 (1S49), Lamartine told about his youthful emotions in the Confidences (1849), and in the Nou•elles confidences (1851). but the same notes had been struck thirty years before; taste had changed, and he failed to awaken any sympathy. About this time Lamartine's extravagant habits brought him to financial ruin. To better his fortune lie wrote history voluminously (Histoirc de la Restauration, 8 vols., 1852: Ifistoirc de la Turquie, 8 vols., 1854-55; Histoire de la Russie, 2 vols.. 1855)—all works of little worth. Indeed, Lamartine was by nature ill-fitted for any work demanding careful investigation. breadth of mind, or analysis. He was a poet, a singer, and his lyric works alone are enough to give him a high place the preeminently lyric poets of the early nineteenth century. Napoleon III., in 1867, gave him the income of 500.000 francs. Lamar tine died March 1. 1869, in Paris. llis body was buried at Saint-Point, near Macon.
Lamartine's Works appeared in 40 volumes (1860-66). Among the more recent of many Lires and critical studies of Lamartine are: Brunetiere, Erolution de In poesir lyrique, vol. i. ( Paris. 1894) : Faguet. 1LYPntr sieele (ib., 1885) ; Porn Lamartine, Etude de morale et d'esthetique (ib.. 1889) : Chamborant de Pr- rissat. Lamartinc inconnu file., 15311; Reyssie, La jcunesse de Lamartine. 18921 ; Des•hanel, Lamartine fibs, 1893) : France. L'O•inc de La ma•tine (ib.. 1893) : Rod. Lamarfinc (ib., 189:3) ; Lem:titre, vol. wi. (lb.. 1 S9.1 ) Uu Lamartine as a statesman, consult : La politique de Lamartine (Paris. 18781 Vogilfs, Hear( 'S d'h LSI fib., 1893). There is an English Life by Lady Maynet Domville (Lon don. 1888).