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The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Joseph Chénier (1764–1811)
Chénier, Marie Joseph de. A French poet and dramatist, younger brother of Andre M. Chénier (1764–1811). He was a Jacobin, and member of the Legislative Assembly in the Revolution. His tragedies—‘Charles IX.’ (1789); ‘Henry VIII.’ and ‘Calas’ (both 1791); ‘Caius Gracchus’ (1793); and others—brought him fame and success by the accordance of their republican and revolutionary sentiments with the public opinion of the time, rather than by their merits as compositions. His national songs were approved by the best test of such productions,—popularity: one of them, ‘The Parting Song’ (Partant pour la Syrie), is hardly less famous than the ‘Marseillaise.’ His satires are full of spirit, point, and wit, but often rancorous and unjust.