La Défense et illustration de la langue française

In it he asserted that French (was) capable of producing a modern literature equal in quality and expressiveness to that of ancient Greece and Rome.

"[1] The text, a plea in favor of the French language, appeared ten years after the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, which imposed French as the language of law and administration in France.

Du Bellay used in his work several passages from Sperone Speroni's Dialogue on Languages, a 1542 essay which dealt with the Tuscan vernacular (which gave rise to present-day Italian) as well as the erudite languages, Latin and Greek.

Du Bellay defends the French language and affirms its equal dignity with Latin and Greek.

One way he chose to advocate the enrichment of the French language was by means of the imitation of ancient authors in classical languages; but at the same time he criticized direct copying via translation, as he felt that translations did not have the same depth and richness of the original text.