Victoire Babois | |
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| Born | 6 October 1760 Versailles, France |
| Died | 18 March 1839 (aged 78) Paris, France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Elegy |
| Relatives | Jean-François Ducis (uncle) |
Victoire Babois, also known as Victoire-Magueritte Babois (6 October 1760 – 18 March 1839), was a French poet and writer of elegies. Married in 1780, she suffered tragedy when her five-year-old daughter Blanche died in 1792. This experience led her to write an elegy to her daughter, which, encouraged by her uncle Jean-François Ducis, she published in 1804. The collection of poems was reprinted six times in the following six years, and influenced other French poets, including Marceline Desbordes-Valmore and Alphonse de Lamartine. She published other collections of elegies, including political works that commented on contemporary events like the Napoleonic Wars. She died on 8 March 1839 and is buried in Paris.