Villon by name and villain by nature, he was a murderer, thief, and an all-round low-life. He was also the finest lyric poet in France in the 15th century. Born in either 1431 or 1432, he was brought up by a professor of canon law in Paris. After leaving university in 1452, his life descended into a series of brawls, imprisonments, and exiles. His only appearances within the historical record come from prison data.

维庸可以说是干尽坏事，他不仅是小偷还是杀人犯。但也是十五世纪法国最优秀的抒情诗人。维庸1431年或1432年出生于巴黎，被一名教士收养。1452年离开大学之后，他的生活一落千丈，打架闹事，锒铛入狱，多次被驱逐流放。历史上对他的记载基本都与他入狱相关。

Villon by name and villain by nature, he was a murderer, thief, and an all-round low-life. He was also the finest lyric poet in France in the 15th century. Born in either 1431 or 1432, he was brought up by a professor of canon law in Paris. After leaving university in 1452, his life descended into a series of brawls, imprisonments, and exiles. His only appearances within the historical record come from prison data.

1455年，维庸在巴黎醉酒后，与人争执中捅死了一名律师。他本应被逐出巴黎，却得到了王室的赦免。1456年，他又带领着一帮强盗从纳瓦拉学院里偷了500顶金冠。因此再次遭到驱逐。1457年，他在布洛瓦服刑，1461年，在穆兰服刑。维庸最后出现在巴黎的记录是1462年的盗窃罪。刑满释放后，他又参与了一场打架，被判处死刑，后改为流放。1463年之后，他就彻底消失了。

Despite his lifestyle, Villon was a master of the intricate poetic forms of the ballade, the rondeau, and the chanson. His longer works touch on cosmology, satire, and religious symbolism. His work is rife with themes of failed love, melancholia, human suffering, lost time, and the ubiquity of death, featuring a cast of princes and prostitutes mired in Parisian brothels and drinking dens. Rimbaud revived his work in the 19th century, while Rossetti translated it into English, giving us the magnificent line “Where are the snows of yesteryear?”

虽然行径不端，但是维庸在叙事诗，回旋诗和香颂上造诣颇高。他的长诗涉及到宇宙学，讽刺和宗教象征等方面。作品中充满了对爱情失意，痛苦忧郁，时光逝去以及死亡不可避免的诉说，多以各种王子和妓女沉溺在妓院和酒馆为主题。19世纪，兰波重整他的作品并由罗塞蒂译成英语，才使我们领略到了“Where are the snows of yesteryear”这样精彩的诗句。