Robert Pipon Marett

On his return from Blois, Robert Pipon Marett was one of the founders of the newspaper La Patrie in which his poetry in Jèrriais appeared from 1849 under the pseudonym Laelius. His La Fille Malade was widely admired and François-Victor Hugo reproduced it in his La Normandie inconnue. It has been suggested that his Lé R'tou du Terre-Neuvi oprès san prumi viage influenced Victor Hugo's Les Pauvres gens written in Jersey in 1854. He corresponded publicly in verse form with George Métivier, the Guernsey poet. His comparatively small poetic output belies its continuing influence. His poetry is generally social rather than political, but La Bouonne Femme et ses Cotillons satirises conservative resistance to constitutional reform. He took a philological interest in Jèrriais and through his prestige did much to standardise Jèrriais orthography on the pattern of French orthography. On being appointed to high office he stopped publishing poetry, and a fire at his home, Blanc Pignon, in St. Brelade in 1874 destroyed his papers – a loss to Jèrriais literature.