Jean de la Fontaine La Fontaine, the most versatile and most widely celebrated nondramatic poet in seventeenth –century France. He has often experienced the misfortune of having the artistry of his works obscured by a host of myths, half-truths, prejudices, and nonaesthetic issues. This great poet, has become a "classic". His fables, on which his Reputations rests, are part of the literary canon of French writers and are studied in schools. His other works, however, have been rediscovered and are the object of quite a few recent studies. (Carter, pg.46) Very little is known about the early part of La Fontaine’s life. He was born in Château-Thierry, a small town in the province