Jean de La Fontaine is best known for his Fables choisies, mises en vers (Selected Fables, Put into Verse), published in twelve books from 1668 to 1693. Comprising more than two hundred short poems divided more or less evenly among the books, the...

The French poet and man of letters Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) was one of the great French classical authors. He preferred to work in relatively minor and unexploited genres, such as the fable and the verse tale. While he did not hesitate to borrow...