DESBORDES-VALMORE, MARCELINE. - Poetess, born in Douai on 20 June 1786, died in Paris on 23 July 1859, after a difficult life. A renowned actress, she later devoted herself to poetry, in which she poured out her affections as a wife, mother, and friend, her discouragement, her return to faith, but above all the melancholy of a great betrayed love. Her *Lettres* reveal the loftiness of her Christian soul. She was admired by the greatest contemporary poets.
BIBL.: Texts: *Oeuvres poétiques*, edited by A. Lacaussade and H. Valmore, 3 vols., Paris 1886–87; *Correspondance intime*, 2 vols., ibid. 1896; *Lettres inédites*, ibid. 1912. Literature: C. A. Sainte-Beuve, *Mme D.-V. Sa vie et sa correspondance*, ibid. 1870; L. Descartes, *La vie douloureuse de M. D.-V.*, ibid. 1911; S. Zweig, *Das Lebensbild einer Dichterin*, Leipzig 1920; P. Verlaine, *Mme D.-V.*, in *Les poètes maudits* (*Oeuvres complètes*, 4), ibid. 1926, pp. 49–67; A. Ponroy, *Le secret de M. D.-V.*, in *Mercure de France*, 209 (1929), pp. 581–93; G. Cavallucci, *Bibliographie critique de M. D.-V.*, I. Poésie, Naples 1935. Iole Scudieri Ruggieri