Lafontaine's fables are mostly based on the fables of ancient Greece, Rome and India, as well as the folk stories of the Middle Ages and17th century. They have successfully created typical images of nobles, priests, judges, businessmen, doctors and farmers, involving all walks of life and profoundly describing all kinds of human beings. They are a mirror, which vividly reflects the social life of France in the17th century.
The main characters in Lafontaine's fable are man and god, as well as various animals. The main venues are forests, fields, cliffs, rivers, oceans, roads, shops, palaces, huts and so on. , forming a "hundred-act comedy" with the background of the universe, exposing the decadent darkness of the feudal dynasty and reflecting various problems in the real world.
Brief introduction of the author of La Fontaine Fable
Fontaine L. (1621-1695) is a famous French fable poet and one of the representative writers of classical literature. Born in a small bureaucratic family in Champagne, France. When he was a child, he grew up in the countryside and loved nature very much. At the same time, he found Malebo's lyric poems in his grandfather's rich library, and he became interested in poetry from then on.
In Paris, he started writing and made friends with celebrities, including some poets and playwrights, such as Moliere and Racine. 1668, published the first set of fable poems, which became famous in the literary world. Then he published the second episode. 1684, Lafontaine was elected as an academician of the French Academy. He was a pioneer of French free verse and had a great influence on later European fable writers.