Pierre Corneille, (born June 6, 1606, Rouen, France—died Oct. 1, 1684, Paris), French poet and playwright. He studied law and was a king’s counselor in Rouen (1628–50). He wrote his first comedy, Mélite (performed 1629), before he was 20; other comedies followed. He responded to the call for a new approach to classical tragedy by writing Médée (1635) and then Le Cid (1637), an instant success that established him as the creator of French classical tragedy; the play has come to be regarded as the most significant in the history of French drama. His next tragedies, Horace (1641), Cinna (1643), and Polyeucte (1643), have joined Le Cid as Corneille’s “classical tetralogy.” He returned to comedy with The Liar (1644), which occupies a central place in French classical comedy. From 1660 he wrote one play a year, ending with the tragedy Suréna (1674).
Pierre Corneille Article
Pierre Corneille summary
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poetry Summary
Poetry, literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm. (Read Britannica’s biography of this author, Howard Nemerov.) Poetry is a vast subject, as old as history and
comedy Summary
Comedy, type of drama or other art form the chief object of which, according to modern notions, is to amuse. It is contrasted on the one hand with tragedy and on the other with farce, burlesque, and other forms of humorous amusement. The classic conception of comedy, which began with Aristotle in
tragedy Summary
Tragedy, branch of drama that treats in a serious and dignified style the sorrowful or terrible events encountered or caused by a heroic individual. By extension the term may be applied to other literary works, such as the novel. Although the word tragedy is often used loosely to describe any sort