In 1582, Jean de Sponde became profoundly moved after reading the Psalms, and from this point on his writings took on a religious orientation, leaving the author to consider his early love poems as fadaises (worthless things).
[2] It is from this period that he wrote what are considered his most important works: Méditations sur les psaumes ("Meditations on the Psalms") and Essai de quelques poèmes chrétiens ("Essay of Several Christian Poems", 1588).
Upon his liberation, he became lieutenant-general of the appellate court (sénéchaussée) in La Rochelle, but left the city in 1593 and returned to Tours.
This conversion however earned him the hatred of the Protestants (his friend d'Aubigné became his personal enemy) and distanced him from the king (who sought to maintain his alliances with the huguenots).
His Essai de quelques poèmes chrétiens comprise 12 sonnets and three long lyric poems (two on the Last Supper and one on death).