Franciade (poem)

La Franciade (known in English as the Franciad) is an unfinished epic poem written in decasyllabic verse by Pierre de Ronsard. Ronsard began writing the poem in the 1540s for Henry II of France, but it was only in 1572 that the poet published, now for Charles IX, the first four books of a planned twenty-four. Various reasons have been given to explain why the poem was never finished. Obviously, the death of his dedicatee Charles IX meant that Ronsard would have to have made certain changes. Another factor might have been the verse form: Ronsard wrote in decasyllables, not alexandrines. Other reasons, too, have been put forward. More recently, it has been stated that "[any] attempt to pin down why the Franciade was left unfinished, while potentially interesting, is probably futile" and that "we must read it despite [the fact it is unfinished], not as a fragment of what might have been, but as a text in its own right".^[1]