Philippe Jaccottet was born in Moudon, Switzerland, in 1925. After studying literature in Lausanne, he lived for several years in Paris as a collaborator with the Mermod publishing house. In 1953, he married the painter Anne-Marie Haesler and settled in Grignan, in the French Drôme Valley, where he has lived ever since. That same year, 1953, his first book of poems, L'Effraie et autres poèmes , was published, followed by L'ignorant (poèmes 1952-1956), Airs (poèmes 1961-1964), À la lumière d'hiver, and Pensées sous les nuages . His later books, Cahier de verdure , Après beaucoup d'années, and Et, néanmoins , combine prose and verse.

His work as a critic and essayist has also been significant, as evidenced by L'entretien des Muses , Une transaction secrète, Écrits pour papier journal , Gustave Roud , and Rilke par lui-même. His translation work has been especially celebrated, notably his versions of Homer, Góngora, Hölderlin, Rilke, Musil, Ungaretti, and Mandelstam. Since the 1997 publication of A la luz del invierno (Calima), the poet and translator Rafael-José Díaz has been introducing the poet's major works to Spain, including Antología personal (Igitur, 2002), Cuaderno de verdor (Bartleby, 2005), La oscuridad (relato) (Artemisa, 2006), and El ignorante: poemas 1952-1956 (Pre-Textos, 2007).