Desbordes-Valmore, Marceline (1785–1859)

Romantic French poet and singer. Name variations: Marcelline; Marceline Valmore. Born Marceline Félicité Josèphe Desbordes at Douai, France, on June 20, 1785 (some sources cite 1786); died on July 23, 1859; daughter of a poor artisan; married François Prosper Lanchantin (an actor known as Valmore), in 1817; children: (with Henri Latouche) one son; (with Lanchantin) three daughters.

The poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore was orphaned as a child when the French Revolution of 1789 wiped out most of her family. To support herself, she made her debut at age 16 in comic opera, but she soon quit the stage when an illness threatened the loss of her voice. In 1817, following an unfortunate love affair with writer Henri Latouche and the birth and death of their child, she married a kind, but minor, actor François Prosper Lanchantin, who was called Valmore. The couple remained together, touring the country as actors, and had three daughters.

Desbordes-Valmore consoled her many misfortunes by writing Romantic poetry of love and childhood, gentle work distinguished for its unaffected tenderness and melancholic air. Her writing was praised by Baudelaire and Sainte-Beuve, and Verlaine claimed her as an influence. Desbordes-Valmore wrote several stories as well as Élégies et romances (Elegies and Romances, 1818), Élégies et poésies nouvelles (New Elegies and Poems, 1824), Les Pleurs (Tears, 1833), Pauvres Fleurs (Poor Flowers, 1839) and Bouquets et Prières (Bouquets and Prayers, 1843). Her correspondence was published in 1896. The renowned French photographer Nadar, who shied away from the fad of deathbed pictures, made two exceptions: Victor Hugo and Mme Desbordes-Valmore. In 1959, an exhibition at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris honored the centenary of her death.