François Édouard Joachim Coppée (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa ədwaʁ ʒɔakim kɔpe]; 26 January 1842 – 23 May 1908) was a French poet and novelist.
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Biography
Coppée was born in Paris to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis he became a clerk in the ministry of war and won public favour as a poet of the Parnassian school. His first printed verses date from 1864. In 1869, his "Poèmes modernes" (among others La Grève de forgerons) were quite successful. In the same year, Coppée's first play, Le Passant, starring Sarah Bernhardt and Madame Agar, was received with approval at the Odéon theatre, and later Fais ce que dois (1871) and Les Bijoux de la délivrance (1872), short poetic dramas inspired by the Franco-Prussian War, were applauded.
After holding a post in the library of the senate, Coppée was chosen in 1878 as archivist of the Comédie Française, an office he held till 1884. In that year, his election to the Académie française caused him to retire from all public appointments. He was made an officer of the Legion of Honour in 1888.