Saint-Pavin was born to Marie du Mesnil and Jacques II Sanguin, Lord of Livry, who served three terms as Prévot des marchands (mayor) of Paris. The Sanguins served both King and Church in many illustrious capacities and were related by marriage to such powerful families as the Séguier and de Thou.

During Saint-Pavin's years at the Jesuit College La Flèche, he met René Descartes and Jacques La Vallée Des Barreaux, the latter of whom would become Théophile de Viau's lover and, subsequently, Saint-Pavin's. Friend of Théophile and libertin poet, agile author of sonnets and other light but daring verse, Denis wrote and circulated in manuscript sophisticated and witty poems that celebrated sodomy, especially with male partners.

Shortly after leaving La Flèche, Saint-Pavin acquired the first of a series of religious benefices as commendatory abbot. A consummate gentleman and libertine, Saint-Pavin spurned the important secular and sacred posts that his family connections might have afforded him and instead devoted his time to poetry and to friendships.

The following partial list of his friends includes several whose homosexual escapades appear in contemporary memoirs: the illustrious general Louis, Prince de Condé; the musician Jean Baptiste Lully; the playwright François le Metel Boisrobert; and the poet Des Barreaux. Saint-Pavin's intimate friendship with the last is confirmed both by records of the Paris Parliament as well as by contemporary letters.

In the largest body of his verse, the gallant sonnets, Saint-Pavin explores the dynamics of heterosexual love by playing with and against traditional themes and tropes. The libertine sonnets and epigrams, however, though displaying similar textual strategies, posit the superiority of sodomy, especially with male partners.

The self-portrait that emerges from his work is that of a man who was acutely self-conscious and fully cognizant of his own homosexual identity. Only one untitled lyric poem and three verse letters discuss homosexual love and desire with a serious tone; more typically, Saint-Pavin treats this topic with a brittle wit calculated to provoke a male coterie audience to laughter.

The following poem, "Cher Tircis tu tiens bonne table," with its sly wit and urbanity, is an excellent example of Saint-Pavin's conflation of social values and physical pleasure:

       Dear Tircis, what a host you are!
The groaning board, the wine beyond compare!
But even better than all that
is the manner of your invitation.
       That little messenger, this morning,
while performing his office,
calling me to the feast,
was such a delight!
       Again and again, concoct for me such banquets,
Tircis. Or, by that same messenger,
just send a note and tell me not to come.

Both Saint-Pavin's lifestyle and his libertine verse won him the sobriquet, "Prince of Sodom". Yet even in an age when many less flagrant sodomites were burnt at the stake, his rank and social connections guaranteed his safety. The audacity of his libertine poems was made palatable by their urbane language, literary sophistication, and finesse. Indeed, in 1668, Louis XIV appointed Saint-Pavin his honorary chaplain and advisor.

Widely acknowledged as the last master of the French sonnet by literary critics, Saint-Pavin is representative of the age and class in which he flourished. His intellectual, witty verse, arguing for enjoying love and physical pleasure while satisfying those of the mind, plays on the eternal complexities of the social environment. Mirroring a specific moment in time as well as an unchanging human condition, his accessible poems continue to delight while they also express a particular homosexual sensibility.

Since Saint-Pavin's status as gentleman precluded his publishing, his poetry circulated in manuscript. Although disparate manuscript collections contain examples of Saint-Pavin's verse, the most complete collection is that compiled by Valentin Conrart, held at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris.

Sources: excerpts from an article by Kathleen Collins-Clark - http://www.glbtq.com/literature/saintpavin_ds.html
and: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to WWII, Routledge, London, 2001