Leconte de Lisle

Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle (22 October 1818 – 17 July 1894) was a French poet of the Parnassian movement. He is traditionally known by his surname only, Leconte de Lisle. He was born on the French overseas island of La Réunion, in the Indian Ocean, and spent his childhood there and later in Brittany. Among his friends in those years was the musician Charles Bénézit. His father, an army surgeon who brought Leconte up with great severity, sent him to travel in the East Indies intending to prepare him for a business career. However, after returning from this journey, the young man preferred to complete his education in Rennes, Brittany, specializing in Greek, Italian and history. In 1845 he settled definitively in Paris.