Joachim Du Bellay (1522-1560) was a member of the group of poets known as the "Pléiade." He was the author of the celebrated Defense et Illustration de la langue francoyse (1549), which sought to break with mediaeval traditions mainly by following the example of the best Greek and Latin poetry. Du Bellay himself wrote intensely personal lyric poetry, much of which was inspired by nostalgia and disillusionment during a sojourn at Rome (1553-1557).

• "Joachim Du Bellay." Representative French Poetry. Ed. Victor E. Graham. 2nd edn. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965. 6-10.