Daurat, JEAN

Daurat, JEAN, a gifted French scholar, who played an important part in determining the course which his country's literature took at the time of the Renaissance. He was born about 1510, and became president of the Collège Coqueret, where he superintended the studies of Ronsard, Du Bellay, Baif, and Belleau. These poets, with whom he was united in the famous coterie of the Pléiade (q.v.), he carefully trained for the task of reforming the vernacular, and ennobling French literature by the imitation of Greek and Latin models. He wrote nothing of importance in French, but devoted himself to guiding and stimulating the other members of the Pléiade, in whose works his learning and enthusiasm bore rich and enduring fruit. He died in 1588.