right|thumb|Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun
Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun (11 August 1729 – 31 August 1807) was a French lyric poet.
Biography
Lebrun was born in Paris at the house of the prince de Conti, to whom his father was valet. Among Lebrun's school friends was a son of Louis Racine, whose disciple he became. In 1755 he published an Ode sur les désastres de Lisbonne. In 1759 he married Marie Anne de Surcourt, addressed in his Élégies as Fanny. In the early years of his marriage he produced his poem, Nature. His wife suffered much from his violent temper, and when in 1774 she brought an action against him to obtain a separation, she was supported by Lebrun's own mother and sister.
Lebrun had been secrétaire des commandements to the prince de Conti, and on his patron's death he lost this position. He also lost financially as a result of the bankruptcy of the prince de Guemene. To this period belongs a long poem, the Veillées des Muses, which remained unfinished, and his ode to Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, which ranks among his best works.