Yves Bonnefoy was born in Tours on June 24, 1923 and moved to Paris to study mathematics and philosophy after first studies which combined with their dedication to poetry. In the years 1945-1946 date his first publications, the magazine Révolution la Nuit and Traité du pianiste, surreal orientation. In 1947, breaks contact with Breton and his group and initiates an independent path that will lead him to be one of the great innovators of contemporary French poetry.
1953 dates his first poetry book, Du mouvement et de l'Immobilité of Douve, which will, among others, Hier Regnant Desert (1958), Pierre écrite (1965), Ce qui fut sans lumière (1987), Début et fin de la neige (1991), La Pluie d'été (1999), Les Planches courbes (2001).
Son celebrated his translations of Shakespeare with acute accompanying preliminary studies. He is the author of numerous essays, including: L'Unlikely; Arthur Rimbaud; L'arrière-pays; The Vérite of parole; Entretiens sur la poésie; Sous l'horizon du langage.
Since 1960, he is invited to give lecture in many French and foreign universities. In 1981, he was appointed to the chair of comparative studies of the poetic function in the Collège de France, where he teaches until 1993.
