Jean Racine was born in La Ferté-Milon, in the Kingdom of France, in December 1639 — sources give the date as either the first or the twenty-first of that month. A citizen of the Kingdom of France throughout his life, he composed exclusively in French and received part of his education at Lycée Saint-Louis. He went on to work as a playwright, poet, writer, historian, librettist, and translator, engaging with multiple written and performed forms over the course of his career.

His work as a dramatist was shaped by the genre of tragedy, and he is associated with the movement of Classicism. Among the plays he wrote are Andromaque, Britannicus, Bérénice, Bajazet, Mithridate, Iphigénie, and Phèdre — a substantial body of dramatic work produced in the French language. He also wrote Les Plaideurs, further extending the range of his output as a playwright.

Racine also wrote the plays Esther and Athalie, which form part of his later dramatic work. Alongside his activity as a playwright, he worked in the capacities of historian, librettist, and translator, roles that indicate the breadth of his engagement with written and performed culture in seventeenth-century France. His use of the French language remained consistent across these different modes of work.

Racine died on 21 April 1699 in Paris. His career had carried him from La Ferté-Milon to the French capital, and the plays he produced in French — among them tragedies such as Phèdre and Athalie — constitute the primary record of his dramatic output. The range of roles he occupied, as playwright, poet, writer, historian, librettist, and translator, reflects a working life sustained across several distinct written forms.