Marie Noël
Marie Noël, born Marie-Mélanie Rouget on February 16, 1883, in Auxerre, France, was a prominent poet, playwright, and author known for her spiritual and devotional themes. The only daughter in a family of four, she was primarily educated at home and began writing poetry in her early twenties. After meeting her spiritual advisor, Abbé Arthur Mugnier, in 1918, she adopted the pseudonym Marie Noël and published her first poetry collections, notably "Poésies et chansons de guerre," which reflected her experiences during World War I. Noël's literary contributions include several poetry volumes such as "Les Chansons et les heures" and "Chants d'arrière-saison," as well as short fiction and a play. Her works, characterized by their introspective and spiritual nature, gained recognition posthumously, leading to various republished collections and critical studies. Noël's poetry has also been adapted into music, further expanding her artistic legacy. She passed away on December 23, 1967, leaving behind a rich body of work that continues to be celebrated.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Marie Noël
Fiction and Nonfiction Writer, Playwright and Poet
- Born: February 16, 1883
- Birthplace: Auxerre, Burgundy, France
- Died: December 23, 1967
Biography
Marie Noël was born Marie-Mélanie Rouget on February 16, 1883, the only daughter and eldest of four children born to Emilie (Barat) and Louis Rouget. Her father taught at both the boys’ and girls’ schools in Auxerre, Burgundy, France, where she was born. The family later bought a manor house near the Cathedral of Saint-Etienne, and Noël lived in this house for the rest of her life. She was primarily educated at home by her parents and by her own reading, and she began writing poetry by the time she was twenty years old. Her early poetry remains unpublished.
In 1918 the Abbé Arthur Mugnier visited Auxerre and met Noël; he became her spiritual adviser and encouraged her in her writing. She adopted the pseudonym Marie Noël and began publishing collections of her poetry; she also began keeping a journal in 1920. Her journal was later published as Notes intimes (1959; Notes for Myself. 1968).
Her first volumes of published poetry, including Poésies et chansons de guerre (1918), were reactions to World War I. Her important devotional and spiritual poetry began with Les Chansons et les heures (1921), which was reissued in 1983. Le Rosaire des joies (1930) was also reissued in 1983. In addition to her poetry, Noël in 1944 published her first collection of short fiction, Contes. Her play Le Jugement de Don Juan: Miracle was published in 1955 and performed for the first time in Paris in 1976.
Noël’s last volume of poetry was Chants d’arrière-saison, published in 1961. An English- language retrospective of her work, Reflected Light: Poems of Marie Noël, was published in 1964. Her poems have also been set to music by Marcel Landowski and other composers.
Noël died on December 23, 1967. After her death, many of her works were republished and critics produced numerous studies of her work. A collection of her poetry, L’Oeuvre poétique, was originally published in 1956 and reissued in 1975; Oeuvres en prose, a collection of her prose, was issued in 1977.