(1522?–60), French poet and critic, born near Anjou; studied law at Poitiers where he met poet Ronsard; together they formed a group of poets known as La Pléiade, with the purpose of defending the French language and its literature; Du Bellay wrote group's manifesto, called ‘The Defense and Illustration of the French Language', in which he argued that French should have a literature at least equal to that of Italian; wrote and published volumes of sonnets, verse collections, and other poetic works; first sonnets inspired by Petrarch, published 1549–50; introduced love sonnets and odes into French literature; satiric ‘Regrets' (1558) considered finest work.