Died 1554, La Péruse, France | ||
Jean Bastier de La Péruse (1529–1554) was a 16th-century French poet and playwright.
He was born at Pont-Sigoulant, parish of Roumazières, but he took the name of the neighboring parish, la Péruse. He studied in Paris, at collège de Boncourt, where he attended the lessons by Marc-Antoine Muret and George Buchanan, and became a member of the first Pléiade, with Ronsard, Du Bellay, Baïf, Jodelle, Pontus de Tyard and Peletier du Mans. According to Étienne Pasquier, he played in the presentations of Cléopâtre captive and L'Eugène by Étienne Jodelle (1553). The performance took place in the hôtel de Reims in Paris in the presence of Henri II and Diane de Poitiers.
He composed a tragedy Médée, inspired by Seneca and Euripides. He was quickly nicknamed "the French Euripides by Charles de Sainte-Marthe. Jean Bastier left Paris soon after and settled in Poitiers.
The favorite themes of his poems are love and literary immortality.
He died aged 25, probably from plague.
His friend Ronsard paid tribute by dedicating him this poem: