The alexandrine is indissolubly linked to the success of classical French theatre. However, there is nothing natural in what would appear to be an obvious relationship, in which politics historically played a preponderant role. There are still many unknowns when one attempts to explain why 16th century playwrights promoted this otherwise ill-favoured verse that was only used in very specific situations, except for a period, around the 13th century, when it was frequently used for the epic genre. Indeed, strongly linked to the translation and reappropriation of ancient Greek and Latin theatre, the choice of the alexandrine was undeniably political in scope. Because of its prestige, it quickly became the verse par excellence of the powerful, whose social status could only be represented in emphatic or “altiloque” speech, as Ronsard termed it, which made the alexandrine an obvious medium for kingly discourse. As the century progressed, authors consistently underscored the similarities between openly political texts and tragedies (as we can see, for example, in the poetical and political links between Garnier’s Hymn for the Monarchy and several of his plays). Furthermore, they reappropriated the imperatives of ancient rhetoric, fully aware that such imperatives, designed for public speeches, carried with them significant political weight. As a result, the increasing use of the alexandrine as the verse of dialogue in tragedy become a fitting metaphor for the complexity of politics, depicted as a body of antithetical speeches, thereby making politics an object of representations (in all senses of the word) and debates.