Sully Prudhomme

Sully Prudhomme

1839–1907

Sully Prudhomme (René-François-Armand Prudhomme, 1839–1907) was a French poet and essayist, born in Paris, and the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901. Associated with the Parnassian movement, he trained in science and law before devoting himself to poetry.

His early lyrics, in Stances et Poèmes (1865), including the famous “Le Vase brisé”, are delicate and melancholy; his later philosophical poems, such as La Justice and Le Bonheur, try to reconcile science and feeling. He was elected to the Académie française in 1881.

Best-known poems

All poems (413)

1850s 11

1860s 101

1870s 253

1880s 13

Undated 34

In Spanish 1