Jean de La Fontaine (July 8, 1621, Château-Thierry – April 13, 1695, Paris) was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional languages.
According to Flaubert, he was the only French poet to understand and master the texture of the French language before Hugo. A set of postage stamps celebrating La Fontaine and the Fables was issued by France in 1995.
Read more about Jean De La Fontaine: Works, Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words jean de and/or fontaine:
“A heap of epithets is poor praise: the praise lies in the facts, and in the way of telling them.”
—Jean De La Bruyère (1645–1696)
“Such gluttony second to none
Almost ended fatally
When a bone choked a wolf as he gulped what he ate;”
—Jean De La Fontaine (1621–1695)