DESBORDES-VALMORE, MARCELINE. - Poetess, born at Douai on 20 June 1786, died at Paris on 23 July 1859, after a difficult life. A renowned actress, she later devoted herself to poetry, in which she poured forth her affections as wife, mother, and friend, her despondency, her returns to faith, but above all the melancholy of a great betrayed love. The Lettres reveal the nobility of her Christian soul. She was admired by the greatest poets of her time.
BIBL.: Texts: Oeuvres poétiques edited by A. Lacassade 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. Descaves, 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. Ponsoy, 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