1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Soulary, Josephin

SOULARY, JOSEPHIN [Joseph Marie] (1815-1891), French poet, son of a Lyons merchant of Genoese origin (Solari), was born on the 23rd of February 1815. He entered a line regiment when he was sixteen, serving for five years. He was chef de bureau in the prefecture of the Rhône from 1845 to 1867, and in 1868 he became librarian to the Palais des arts in his native town. He died at Lyons on the 28th of March 1891. His works include À travers champs (1837); Les Cinq cordes du luth (1838); Les Ephémères (two series, 1846 and 1857); Sonnets humoristiques (1862); Les Figulines (1862); Pendant l'invasion (1871); Les Rimes ironiques (1877); Jeux divins (1882), and two comedies. His Œuvres poétiques were collected in three volumes (1872-1883). His Sonnets humoristiques attracted great attention, and charmed their readers by the mixture of gaiety and tragedy. His mastery over the technical difficulties of his art, especially in the sonnet, won him the title of the “Benvenuto of rhyme.”

See also Paul Mariéton, Soulary et la Pléiade lyonnaise (1884).