Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585), who was the leader of the "Pléiade," is a poet of superlative technique and tremendous variety. After a brief career as a page in the royal household, cut short by an illness which left him deaf, Ronsard along with Du Bellay became a member of a group which studied Greek and Latin under the famous humanist, Dorat. In his Odes and the unsuccessful epic La Franciade, we see very clearly the influence of the classics, but there are many other sides to Ronsard's genius -- the love poet, the poet of nature, the patriot and satirist, the chronicler, the philosopher. His range and quality rank him as one of France's greatest poets.

• "Pierre de Ronsard." Representative French Poetry. Ed. Victor E. Graham. 2nd edn. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965. 10-15.
• Ronsard, Pierre de. Oeuvres complètes. Ed. Paul Laumonier. Paris: A. Lemerre, 1914-1919. Internet Archive
• --. Poèmes. Ed. André Barbier. Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1967.