France Prešeren (2 or 3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet, best known as the poet who has inspired virtually all later Slovene literature and has been generally acknowledged as the greatest Slovene classical author. He wrote some high quality epic poetry, for example the first Slovene ballad and the first Slovene epic. After death, he became the leading name of the Slovene literary canon.