Pierre de Ronsard lived from 1524 to 1585. He became deaf during his adolescence and abandoned his early ambition for a military career. He achieved great notoriety as a poet, however, considered one of the brightest stars of the Pléïade, a group of French humanist poets who drew inspiration from the classics, but whose ambition was to create a literature in the vernacular French.

Among his works are counted the Odes (1550-1556), Amours de Cassandre (1552), Amours de Marie (1555), Hymnes (1555-1563), Discours (1560-1556), La Franciade (1574), and Amours d'Hélène (1578).