Nérée Beauchemin
Nérée Beauchemin, born Charles-Nérée Beauchemin on February 20, 1850, in Yamachiche, Quebec, was a notable French Canadian poet and physician. He pursued his initial education at the Academy of Saint Anne of Yamachiche and later studied medicine at Laval University, where he began to write poetry. His early work included the poem "Les Petits Pèlerins," published in 1871, reflecting his growing literary aspirations. After graduating in 1874, he returned to his hometown to practice medicine while continuing to contribute to literary journals, notably La Patrie.
Beauchemin's poetry is characterized by its roots in the Terroir school, which emphasizes rural life and community. His famous poem, "La Cloche de Louisbourg," captures the historical essence of his homeland and remains one of his best-known works. Over his lifetime, he published several collections, including "Les Floraisons matutinales" in 1897 and "Patrie intime: Harmonies" in 1928, where he expresses a deep appreciation for small-town life and the Québécois culture. His use of accessible language and focus on everyday experiences distinguished his work from the more formal styles of his contemporaries. Beauchemin was recognized for his contributions to literature with awards such as the Médaille de l'Académie française before his death on June 29, 1931.
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Subject Terms
Nérée Beauchemin
Poet
- Born: February 20, 1850
- Birthplace: Yamachiche, Quebec, Canada
- Died: June 29, 1931
- Place of death: Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada
Biography
Charles-Nérée Beauchemin, who wrote under the name Nérée Beauchemin, was born on February 20, 1850, in Yamachiche, Quebec, Canada. His father, Hyacinthe Beauchemin, was a physician and his mother, Elzire Richer- Laflèche Beauchemin, came from a family whose members included several important religious and political leaders. Beauchemin attended school at the Academy of Saint Anne of Yamachiche and then continued classical studies at the seminary in Nicolet. He later enrolled at Laval University to study medicine, graduating in 1874. During his years at Laval University, he began to write poetry. His first poem, “Les Petits Pèlerins,” appeared in L’Opinion publique in 1871.
After college, he returned to Yamachiche, where he joined his father’s medical practice, living in the house where he was born. Ten years later, Beauchemin purchased his own home across the street. Shortly thereafter, his father died of typhoid fever. A month after his father’s death, Beauchemin married Anne Lacerte, with whom he had ten children.
In 1884, his poem, “Le Lac,” was published in La Patrie, and during the next twenty years many of his other works appeared in that journal. In 1888, Beauchemin won a prize from the Royal Society of Canada, and he was elected to membership in the society in 1896. He subsequently published a collection of poems, Les Floraisons matutinales, in 1897.
This book and many of the poems he previously published associated him firmly with the Terroir school of poetry. The poets of this school wrote about rural life and the people who lived in rural communities. Some of the other poems in Beauchemin’s first collection are specifically religious in tone and vocabulary. In addition, this volume includes perhaps Beauchemin’s best known poem, “La Cloche de Louisbourg,” in which he describes a bell that rang over the Fortress of Louisbourg, the site of many battles between the French and English, ending with the defeat of the French.
Beauchemin published his second volume of poems, Patrie intime: Harmonies, in 1928. In these poems, he speaks of his contentment with life in his small town. His poetry celebrates both the rituals of rural life and his love for his country. He uses the speech patterns of the rural Québécois rather than the elaborate, elevated style of many of his contemporaries. In 1930, Beauchemin was awarded the Médaille de l’Académie française. He died on June 29, 1931, after a short illness.
More than forty years after Beauchemin’s death, Armand Guilmette edited a collection of his poems, which was published in three volumes in 1973 and 1974. The collection combines the poems Beauchemin wrote in his youth with verse discovered after his death. Beauchemin’s contributions to French Canadian poetry were his rejection of bombast and didacticism and his embrace of simple rural life and diction.