Poets

Nérée Beauchemin has been described as representing a decisive turning point in the development of French-Canadian poetry and as the most insipid poet of the nineteenth century. He was acclaimed, in his time, for bringing craftsmanship and refinement to a poetic tradition characterized by bombastic sloppiness. He lived in rural Quebec, which he celebrated without exaggeration or heavy didacticism, and is best remembered for delicate, precise vignettes of traditional French-Canadian country life.

Charles-Nérée Beauchemin was born 20 February 1850 in Yamachiche, a small town in the fertile belt near Three Rivers, Quebec. His father, Hyacinthe Beauchemin, was the local doctor, and Beauchemin was to follow in his footsteps. The poet's mother, Elzire Richer-Laflèche Beauchemin, was related to Louis-François Laflèche, the outspoken nationalist bishop of Three Rivers, and to Lomer Gouin, once premier of Quebec.

Beauchemin studied at the seminary in Nicolet; this does not imply a religious vocation, seminaries being then the regular place for a secondary education. From there he went on to study medicine at Laval University from 1870 to 1874. He returned to practice medicine in Yamachiche, where he remained for the rest of his life. The place was not without literary memories, being also the birthplace of Antoine Gérin-Lajoie, but Beauchemin was not closely associated with the main literary circles in Quebec and Montreal. He had apparently begun to write poetry while he was a ..