France, mother of arts, of warfare, and of laws.

Du Bellay maintained that the French language as it was then constituted was too poor to serve as a medium for the higher forms of poetry but he contended that by proper cultivation it might be brought on a level with the classical tongues. Du Bellay died in Paris at the age of 38. With it were printed thirteen odes entitled Vers lyriques.

1522 – 1 January 1560) was a French poet critic and a member of the Pléiade. Joachim du Bellay (French: [ʒoaʃɛ̃ dy bɛlɛ]; c.