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Francis Ponge (1899-1988) is a French essayist and poet. He was born in Montpellier and studied at the world-renowned Sorbonne. His first poems were published as early as 1923, and it would be through these publications that he introduced his distinct poetic style. His style of prose poetry (he often refered to this style as proêms) features meticulous descriptions of natural, everyday objects in lyric prose form. He is the laureate of the 1974 Neustadt Prize.