“ Du Bartas began the publication of the Seconde Semaine in 1584. He aimed at a great epic which should stretch from the story of the creation to the coming of the Messiah. Of this great scheme he only executed a part, marked by a certain elevation of style, but he did not succeed in acclimatizing the religious epic in France. The work is spoiled by a constant tendency to moralize, and is filled with the indiscriminate information that passed under the name of science in the 16th century. Du Bartas, perhaps more than any other writer, brought the Ronsardist tradition into dispute. ”

“ His first epic, Judith, appeared in a volume entitled La Muse chrétienne (Bordeaux, 1573) . This was followed five years later by his principal work, La Sepmaine, a poem on the creation of the world. This work was held by admirers of du Bartas to put him on a level with Ronsard, and thirty editions of it were printed within six years after its appearance. Its religious tone and fanciful style made it a great favourite in England, where the author was called the “divine” du Bartas, and placed on an equality with Ariosto. ”

“ He introduced many unwieldy compounds foreign to the genius of the French language, and in his borrowings from old French, from provincial dialects and from Latin, he failed to show the sure instinct and prudence of Ronsard and du Bellay. ”