CHENIER, AND:a: MARIE DE (1762 NI. A French poet. lie was born in Constanti nople. where his father. Louis de a of some not,, was •onsul-general. Andril was sent in infancy to France, and studied in Paris. Ilis mother was Creek, nail be had a strong, lu-eilileethol for Greek poets, from whom he adapted verses as early as 1779. In 1782 he entered the army, but resigned that year and gave himself up to study and poetry, writ in'' idyls and planning longer works. Ilis health failed from overstudy, and passed 1785 Stl in travel. On his return he conceived a passion for Aladame de Bonneuil that inspired many of his elegies, remarkable fur their (lassie purity of language and their restrained vigor of thought, and showing him an apt, probably the aptest, pupil of the Greek anthologists. 11.) wrote also at this time. in imitation of Ovid, a !we'll On the "Art of Love:" a poetic theory of :esthetics. "L'Invention;" and a Lucretian philo poem, `ilIrIIWs," which remains a noble fragment, Ent "Susanne," it :Miltonie treatment of the biblical legend, is little more th:In a preliminary sketch. of this work was then published. In 1787 Chi.nier Willi. as SO're i.ary of legation to London. This uncongenial post he resigned in 1790, and patriotic zeal into the revolutionary nowemen1, .joining the moderate party as a lover of liberty and a hater of anarchy. Ile wrote a manifesto in this spirit for the Society of '89, which brought. Lim a. medal from Standslas Poniatowski of Po land and tierce denunciation from Camille Des iniallins. in Les rt'eolutifms de France et de Bra bant. In 1791 he wrote the Jen de Palmy, a superb Pindaric ode on the meeting of the Third Estate. The same year he was defeated in the election for the National Assembly. In 179• his anti-Jacobin attitude involved him in sharp con troversy, and the fall of the monarch}' made him resolve to retire from polities and devote himself to study and art.
But the trial of the King brought him again to the front. lie offered to share in the prepara
tion of the King's defense and in the resi•onsi bility for it. Then, broken in spirit, he •ith dre• to Rouen and Versailles, whence be wrote the striking poems, "A Versailles" and "A Fan ny." fle could not resign himself to be a passive spectator of the Terror. On January G. 1794, seized tor protesting against the arrest of his hostess, _Madame de Pastoret., at Passy, he re mained in Saint-Lazare prison till his execution, July 25. here he wrote his most famous poems, an iambic denunciation of the Convention, and the exquisite "Jenne Captive," dedicated to his fellow-prisoner, ...Mademoiselle de Coigny (later Duchess of Fleury). It is said that on his way to execution he recited to his follow-condemned. the poet Lonelier, the opening lines of Raeine's _Indroniatinc. llis last words are reported as "1 have done nothing for posterity, and vet 1 had something in me." lie had indeed published only the "Jen he Paume" and "Ode it ('harlotte Cor day," the self-appointed exeeut Miter of Marat. Ills other poems were first edited in 1819, by La touchy. lie became at one). a restraining and chastening force in the new romantic poetry, lbe still stands among Frenelt poets as an envied model of forum! purity, stately yet vigorous dic tion, and a lyric style that is warmly pas sionate, yet. never obtrusively personal. The best edition of Chilnier is by Bccq de Fonquii‘res (3 vols., 1862), who also published ( 1 von us documents sue ('hostle•, Warr( s prose. There k :11,o a later edition of chiMier's Prose (1879) and Pr.rsie (1889), by L. „:\hdand. Consult: Weil de Einiquires, b•if•s critiques .cur equ'nfrr (Paris, 18811; Valli;e, r it Jacobins (Paris, 1881) ; llonquet. Los portraits. t fres ••1 fragments im'dits (Park, 1`491) i',ortheleroy. Eloge de rhi'nier (19011: pw'sic (Pinar(' ('he'nier ( Pa ris. 181)2) ; Che'nier (Paris. 1894) ; Yeller, Chenicr (New York, 1895).