Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786–1859)

Marceline Desbordes lived in Brussels during her early years and moved to the French colony of Guadeloupe when her father's business was ruined during the French Revolution. She returned to Paris after her mother’s death, supporting herself by acting and singing at the Opéra-Comique and the Odéon. In 1817, she married Prosper Lanchantin, called Valmore, an actor. When illness threatened her stage voice, Madame Desbordes-Valmore turned to writing to support herself. Her Romantic poetry was much admired by Baudelaire, Verlaine, and others. Her work addressed some dark and depressing themes, which reflected her troubled life. She was the only female writer included in Verlaine's famous 1884 anthology, "Les Poètes Maudits." She also wrote an autobiographical novel, L’Atelier d’un peintre (1833), and short stories and tales. Her letters were published posthumously by Sainte-Beuve as Madame Desbordes-Valmore: sa vie et sa Correspondance (1870).