Jean Passerat (18 October 1534 – 14 September 1602) was a 16th-century French political satirist and poet.

[1] In the meanwhile Passerat had studied law, and had composed much agreeable poetry in the Pléiade style, the best pieces being his short ode Du Premier jour de mai and the villanelle whose first line is J'ay perdu ma tourterelle.

[1] The nonce form of the latter poem was eventually imitated by many nineteenth- and twentieth-century poets.

[citation needed] Passerat's exact share in the Satire Ménippée (Tours, 1594), the great manifesto of the politique or Moderate Royalist party when it had declared itself for Henry of Navarre, is unknown; but it is agreed that he wrote most of the verse, and the harangue of the guerrilla chief Rieux is sometimes attributed to him.

The famous Sur la journée de Senlis, which commends the duc d'Aumale's ability in running away, is one of the most celebrated political songs in French.