Antoinette Quarré in Dijon, (Côte-d'Or (21))

Antoinette Suzanne Quarré (1813-47) was a working-class poet who was born in Recey-sur-Ource (Côte-d'Or) and died in Dijon. She was a linen maid in Dijon of poor health, and a story handed down tells that she learned to read from Voltaire's Zaïre. Receiving lessons from M. de Belloguet, she leaned towards poetry and published several works in verse and in prose (particularly in Le Journal des Demoiselles). An elegy on Marie d'Orléans gave her a mention in the Société des lettres et des arts de Seine-et-Oise in 1839. She sent her verses to Lamartine, who in 1838 responded by a poem, 'À une jeune fille poète', which he included in Recueillements poétiques. Encouraged by friends she published a collection of poetry in 1843, although she died of heart failure in 1847.