At school and at the École Normale Supérieure he gave evidence of brilliant, if somewhat undisciplined, powers, for which he found physical vent in different directions—first as a franc-tireur in the Franco-German War, and afterwards as actor, sailor and stevedore[2]—and an intellectual outlet in the writing of poems, plays and novels which vividly reflected his erratic but unmistakable talent.

A play, L'Étoile, written by him in collaboration with André Gill (1840–1885), was produced in 1873; but Richepin was virtually unknown until the publication, in 1876, of a volume of verse entitled La Chanson des gueux, a declaration of war against the bourgeoisie, according to Jacques Cellard [fr]:[3] Richepin's outspokenness resulted in his being imprisoned and fined for outrage aux mœurs.

[9] On 14 June 1913 a banquet, the Ligue des Gourmands, Xeme Diner d’Epicure was held at the Hyde Park Hotel in London.

[10] Richepin won three prizes awarded by the Académie française: the Prix Toirac [fr] for the best comedy in verse or prose performed at the Théâtre Français during the previous year), in 1893, for Par le glaive, and again, in 1906, for Don Quichotte.

People especially admired the ingenious staging, completely new, which seemed to have been planned by M. Duquesnel, of this gripping drama: the Trappists refusing to open the door of their cloister to the author of ‘’Blasphèmes’’, the unhappy wife setting off in pursuit of the desperate man, and the latter, filth on his body, revolt in his soul, sinking into the desert, the mysterious desert from which no one has returned, and where he was already represented to us, loved by panthers, taming lions and raising up wandering peoples.

’ (First paragraph of a long and delightful article by Octave Mirbeau published on the front page of the newspaper Le Gaulois, 8 December 1884[15] Justine Richard suspects that this lie was invented in collaboration with Sarah Bernhardt, whom the actor Paul Mounet introduced to Richepin in 1882, and who became her lover.

[18] The ballet L'Impératrice by Paul Vidal is based on a text by Richepin (Paris, 1901) who also wrote the lyrics for his friend Emmanuel Chabrier's concert "scène lyrique" La Sulamite and helped with the libretto of Le roi malgré lui.

Another work he collaborated on is "Soléa", a lyric drama in four acts and five tableaux, with poetry and music by Isidore de Lara, versified into French by Jean Richepin (Cologne, December 19, 1907).

[22] Forty poems from "Les Caresses" attracted the attention of composers such as César Cui, Gabriel Dupont, Louis Vierne, Auguste Chapuis, Alfred Bruneau, Camille Erlanger, Nikolay Sokolov, Paul Hillemacher and his brother, Georges Hüe, André Messager, Florent Schmitt, Paul Puget, Ernest Garnier (compositeur) [fr], Edmond Missa [fr] ('Du mouron pour les p'tits oiseaux') and Ernest Moret.

[23] 'Le bateau rose' was his most popular poem with composers, set to music more than ten times, including by Paul Lacôme : the song was titled 'Je m'embarquerai, si tu le veux' (Lacôme also set "Vieilles amourettes" as "Aux prés de l'enfance on cueille") There are several translations of ' Où vivre ?

Over 20 poems from "La Mer" garnered significant interest, particularly for "Larmes" (Pleurons nos chagrins, chacun le nôtre) with 8 different settings, including those by Marie Jaëll, André Caplet, Ange Flégier [fr], Cui, Fauré, Alfredo Casella.

Sixteen poems from La chanson des gueux have been the sources for melodies by Désiré Dihau, Cui, Marguerite Roesgen-Champion, etc.

Only two poems from La bombarde, contes à chanter have retained the attention of composers : 'Trois petits oiseaux dans les blés' (Gabriel Pierné, Marcel Samuel-Rousseau) and 'Les deux ménétriers' (Cécile Chaminade, Cui, Robert Dussaut - as well as Edith Piaf).

There are also six settings of 'La Chanson de la Glu' (Y avait un' fois un pauv' gas) from the novel La Glu (Auguste Chapuis, Georges Fragerolle, Charles Gounod, Joseph Jongen, and others), two poems from Par le Glaive, one set by Ethelbert Nevin and the other one by Richepin himself (who also composed music for 'Les trois bateaux' from Les Truands).

Louis Vierne composed on 'Les roses blanches de la lune' (from Les Glas, Poèmes) ; Max Arham and Ange Flégier on 'La requête aux étoiles' and César Cui and Ernest Moret on 'Si mon rival' (all three poems from Les Blasphèmes, as well as 'Le Hun' by Georges Alary [fr] (Chœurs sans accompagnement, op.