Julien Auguste Pélage Brizeux

Julien Auguste Pélage Brizeux (1803-1858) was a French poet born at Lorient (Morbihan) on the 12th of September 1803. He was said to belong to a family of Irish origin, long settled in Brittany, and was educated for the law, but in 1827 he produced at the Théâtre Français a one-act verse comedy, "Racine", in collaboration with Philippe Busoni.

His great books are, first, "Marie" (1832, 1836, 1840), then, "Les Bretons" (1845, 1846). He has also written in breton language : see Telenn Arvor and Furnez Breiz.

A journey to Italy in company with Auguste Barbier made a great impression on him, and a second visit (1834) resulted in 1841 in the publication of a complete translation of the "Divina Commedia" in "terza rima". With Priinel el Nob (1852) he included poems written under Italian influence, entitled "Les Ternaires" (1841), but in the rustic idyl of "Marie" (1836) turned to Breton country life; in "Les Bretons" (1845) he found his inspiration in the folklore and legends of his native province, and in "Telen-Aroor" (1844) he used the Breton dialect. His "Histoires poetiques" (1855) was crowned by the French Academy. His work is small in bulk, but is characterized by simplicity and sincerity. Brizeux was an ardent student of the philology and archaeology of Brittany, and had collected materials for a dictionary of Breton place-names. He died at Montpellier on the 3rd of May 1858.

His "Œuvres completes" (2 vols., 1860) were edited with a notice of the author by Saint-Ren Taillandier. Another edition appeared in 1880-1884 (4 vols.). A long list of articles on his work may be consulted in an exhaustive monograph, "Brizeux; sa vie et ses ceuvres" (1898), by the abbé C. Lecigne.