Madame Deshoulières (1638–1694)

Antoinette du Ligier de La Garde was born into a wealthy family in Paris. She received an excellent education, becoming fluent in Latin and several European languages. In 1651, at age 14, she was married to Guillaume de Boisguerin, Seigneur Deshoulières, a lieutenant-colonel in the service of Louis de Bourbon, le Grand Condé. When he went off to war in the Spanish Netherlands, Madame Deshoulières stayed at home to study and write poetry. She later accompanied her husband to Brussels, where she won renown for her beauty. Returning to France, she became a prominent figure at the court of King Louis XIV, who gave her a royal pension, and also in the literary salons. Her circle included Corneille, Charles Perrault, and La Rochefoucauld. Poems were written about her, calling her "the tenth Muse" and "the French Calliope." She was a prolific writer and worked in nearly all forms of poetry, including odes, idylls, elegies, chansons, ballads, and madrigals. She also wrote several dramatic works. Her friend Voltaire considered her the best of the female French poets, and her reputation with her contemporaries was indicated by her election as a member of the Academy of the Ritrovati of Padua. Her works were collected and published after her death by her daughter Antoinette-Thérèse (known as Mademoiselle Deshoulières, 1656-1718), who took the opportunity to add a few poems of her own.