Francis Jammes (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃sis ʒam]; 2 December 1868 – 1 November 1938) was a French poet. He spent most of his life in his native region of Béarn and the Basque Country and his poems are known for their lyricism and for singing the pleasures of a humble country life (donkeys, maidens). His later poetry remained lyrical, but also included a strong religious element brought on by his reversion to Catholicism in 1905.
Biography
Francis Jammes was born on 2 December 1868 in Tournay, Hautes-Pyrénées, Occitania; his parents were Louis-Victor Jammes (1831–1888) and Anna Bellot (1841–1934).
A mediocre student, Jammes failed his baccalauréat with a zero for French. His first poems began to be read in Parisian literary circles around 1895, and were appreciated for a fresh tone breaking away from symbolism.
In 1896 Jammes travelled to Algeria with André Gide. He fraternised with other writers, including Stéphane Mallarmé and Henri de Régnier. His most famous collection of poems — De l'angélus de l'aube à l'angélus du soir ("From morning Angelus to evening Angelus") — appeared in 1897 in the Mercure de France; Le Deuil des Primevères ("The Mourning of Primulas") (1901) was also well received. Working up to that point as a notary's clerk, Jammes was then able to make a living from his writing. In 1905, influenced by the poet Paul Claudel to whom he became close, he converted to a practicing Catholicism. His poetry became more austere and sometimes dogmatic.
In the eyes of Parisian literary circles, Francis Jammes was generally considered a solitary provincial who chose to live a life of retreat in his mountainous Pyrenees, and his poems never became entirely fashionable. The author sought nomination to the Académie française several times, but was never elected.
