La Fontaine, Jean de (1621–1695)

French poet. He was born at Château-Thierry, Champagne, and from 1656 lived largely in Paris, the friend of the playwrights Molière and Racine, and the poet Boileau. His works include Contes et nouvelles en vers (1665–74), a series of witty and bawdy tales in verse, and Fables choisies mises en vers (1668–94), his universally known verse fables.

The subjects of the Contes are taken from various writers including Boccaccio, Ariosto, and Machiavelli, while the Fables are derived from numerous sources including Aesop, Phaedrus, Babrius, and other ancient writers, or from 16th-century authors such as Rabelais and Marot. He also wrote Les Amours de Psyché et de Cupidon/The Loves of Cupid and Psyche (1669).

La Fontaine came under the influence of several patrons in Paris, including the Prince of Condé, Madame de Lafayette, and Madame de La Sablière, a woman of high character and considerable intellect who invited La Fontaine to make his home in her house. Here he worked for 20 years, living an easy-going existence which lasted until his religious conversion, just before his death.

There were five books of Contes and twelve books of Fables, the first six of which appeared in 1668, the seventh to eleventh 1678–79, and the twelfth in 1694. The Fables, free from the impropriety of the Contes, are generally regarded as his masterpiece. They combine diversity of style with seriousness of purpose, and appeal to children, students, and scholars alike.