Alphonse de Lamartine was born in 1790, in Saint-Malo, Brittany, France. He was a poet and novelist. He wrote "The Song of the Lion," "The Song of the Bell," and "The Lady and the Child," which is included in his collection of poems: "Les Chants du Désert" (1828). Lamartine was one of the founders of the French Romantic Movement
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He shared with Victor Hugo a love for theater and dramatic literature. Like Hugo, he wrote plays, songs, novels, and poems. In 1828 he published "Les Chants du Désert".
In 1834 he published "Voyages pittoresques", a collection of essays on various themes, which brought him international recognition. In 1836 Lamartine received a literary academy's prize for his poem about Joan of Arc: "La Pucelle". Between 1838 and 1841 he published his most famous work: "Le Rouet d'Omphale" [The Spinning Wheel], which tells of a man who finds himself lost in the desert and finds solace from his suffering in the company of an angelic mermaid.
In 1842 he published his greatest work: "Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard" [The Game of Love and Chance]. His other poetry collections include: "Voyages pittoresques" (1834), "Le Bal masqué" (1835), and "Les Fleurs du mal" (1837).