Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) was born at Chateau-Thierry in the Champagne region of France, and is probably the most widely-read French poet of the seventeenth century. He counted Racine and Moliere among his close friends and was elected to the Academie Francaise in 1684. His Fables, the first of six books of which was published in 1668, were a great success, and continue to be taught widely in French schools.
