Fun Facts Friday: Alphonse de Lamartine

Alphonse de Lamartine (21 October,1790 – 28 February, 1869) was a poet, author, and statement from French. He is remembered for being a key player in the foundation of the Second Republic.

Books by Alphonse de Lamartine*

Fun facts about Alphonse de Lamartine:

1. Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was born in Mâcon, Burgundy to a noble family on his family’s estate, where he spent his childhood.
2. Pierre de Lamartine, his father was an aristocrat who barely escaped the guillotine during the Reign of Terror.
3. After finishing his education at the college at Belley, he wanted to join the French army of the diplomatic corps. However, his parents regarded Napoleon as a usurper and would not allow him to serve.
4. When the Bourbon monarch was restored (1814) he served as a bodyguard to Louis XVIII. When Napoleon returned from exile the next year, Lamartine emigrated to Switzerland only to return after the defeat of Napoleon in Waterloo.
   That was the end of his military career (both Lamartine and Napoleon).
5. In 1820, Lamartine married Maria Ann Birch, an Englishwoman who was connected, by marriage, to the Churchills. The same year he finally managed to join the diplomatic corps, and publish his first collection of poetry.
6. The book, Méditations poétiques, was so successful that two years later, Alphonse de Lamartine decided to extend it with Nouvelles méditations poétiques, and Mort de Socrates.
7. Even though he was born an aristocrat, Lamartine strongly supported pacifism and democracy. As head of the provisional government in the Second Republic, he passed such policies as the abolition of the death penalty and slavery.
8. In 1848, the bourgeoisie class, the right-wing parties at the time, elected Lamartine to the National Assembly, hoping that, as an aristocrat, he would mollify the lower socioeconomic classes who suddenly had power. However, they quickly found out he really believed in democracy and kicked him out of office.
9. At the age of 60, Alphonse de Lamartine was a broken man. His public career was over, and he was deeply in debt since he gave his sisters allowances to compensate for them inheriting nothing.
10. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in the Romantic movement in French literature.

Books by Alphonse de Lamartine*

Zohar — Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books