Alphonse de Lamartine
Poet
French Romantic poet, writer, and politician their for his poem "Le Lac" ("The Lake"). He also published several historical works, including Histoire des Girondins and Histoire de la Turquie.
He came from French Catholic nobility and spent his youth on his family's provincial estate.
He was instrumental in the establishment of the Second Republic of France. As a politician, he campaigned unsuccessfully for the French presidency; nevertheless, he helped to abolish both the death penalty and slavery in his native country.
He wrote love poems to both Julie Charles and a working-class woman named Antoinella. However, he ultimately married Maria Ann Birch.
He greatly influenced the literary work of French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine.