Marot, Clément (1496–1544)

French poet. He is known for his translation of the Psalms (1539–43). His best verse is found in his rondeaux, epigrams, and epistles. He restored naturalness and simplicity to French poetry, replacing artificial excess of ornament and allegory by native grace, and his achievement became a model for later writers of light verse. Among others, La Fontaine imitated the style marotique.

His other works include translations and allegories, such as his translation of the first and second books of Ovid's Metamorphoses, his Temple de Cupido (1515), and his allegorical satire L'Enfer. His paraphrases of the Psalms reveal his metrical originality, and he also helped introduce the sonnet to France.

Marot was born in Cahors. In 1518 he entered the service of Marguerite of Navarre. Later he was in the service of Francis I whom he accompanied to Italy in 1524. In 1534, suspected of sympathies with Lutheranism, he had to flee to the court of Queen Margaret and later to that of the Duchess of Ferrara. He returned to France in 1536 on condition of a formal recantation, but once more was forced to leave, his translation of the Psalms having been condemned by the Sorbonne. He went to Geneva but the austerity demanded of the true Calvinist was beyond him and he continued on to Turin, where he died.