Mistral, FREDERICK

Mistral, FREDERICK, Provençal poet, was born a peasant's son near Maillaune (dept. Bouches-du-Rhône), on 8th September 1830, and studied law at Avignon; but for law he had no liking and went home to work on the land and write poetry, as Burns did before him. In 1859 he published the epic Miréio (7th ed. 1884; Eng. trans. 1890), written in his native Provençal dialect. This charming representation of life in southern France made Mistral's name famous throughout the country, and gained for him the poet's prize of the French Academy and the cross of the Legion of Honour. It also led to the formation of the society called Lou Felibrige, which set itself to create a modern Provençal literature. In 1867 Mistral published a second epic, Calendou, and in 1876 a volume of poems entitled Lis Iselo d'Or ('Golden Islands'), songs steeped in the golden sunshine of the Mediterranean and its vine-clad shores. Since then he has written a novel, Nerto (2d ed. 1884), and issued a dictionary of the Provençal dialect (2 vols. 1878-86), the preparation of which occupied him many years. See an article by A. Daudet in the Century (1885).