François Coppée, (born Jan. 26, 1842, Paris, Fr.—died May 23, 1908, Paris), French poet, dramatist, and short-story writer known for his somewhat sentimental treatment of the life of the poor.
Coppée served as a clerk in the Ministry of War and was successful in 1869 with the play Le Passant. From 1871 to 1885 he was the librarian of the Comédie-Franƈaise, and during that time he published his best-known and most characteristic collection of verse, Les Humbles (1872). In 1884 he was elected to the Académie Franƈaise. In 1898, after a serious illness, he was reconverted to Roman Catholicism; that same year he published La Bonne Souffrance, a novel arising from this experience. Coppée’s reputation has been diminished because of his involvement in nationalist and racialist politics.
