BÉRANGER, PIERRE-JEAN de. - French poet, b. in Paris on 19 Aug. 1780, d. there on 16 July 1857. After a wretched and hardship-ridden life, he devoted himself to poetry, and his literary significance lies in having restored, with an easy and witty vein, the ancient goliardic poetry, transforming it into patriotic and popular song and employing it as an instrument of propaganda.
Into it he poured his important yet changeable political ideas and his bitter sarcasm against authority; but too often he also proves to be unscrupulous, libertine, and irreligious (cf., e.g.: Le Dieu des bonnes gens, Le fils du pape, Les révérends Pères, Les filles, Les deux sœurs, Le vieux célibataire). For this reason his Chansons were placed on the Index (29 July 1834).