| Summary: | This article argues that Ronsard’s Hymnes (1555–56) offer an ironic reading of ghost figures and the fear of daimons. Through various strategies that aim to create a form of complicity with the reader, the Hymnes challenge the seriousness of ghosts by mocking the fear they induce. Throughout the Hymnes, which offer a double reading (a cryptic one, to be understood only by a few, and an explicitly allegorical one), the poet pokes fun at the supposed power of ghostly and demonic figures in order to provoke laughter, and specifically to laugh with his own patrons and friends. This article examines the figure of Charles de Lorraine and the well-known poem ‘Les Daimons’ to show that despite the explicit demonological content of the Hymnes, their poetics clearly gesture towards a celebration of playful ‘fantaisie’, which even when intended to provoke fear can be enjoyed with humour and derision.
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