Alfred Victor de Vigny (27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
,
playwrightA playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, and novelist.
Life
Alfred de Vigny was born in
LochesLoches is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.It is situated southeast of Tours by railway, on the left bank of the Indre River.-History:...
(a town to which he never returned) into an aristocratic family. His father was an aged veteran of the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
who died before Vigny's 20th birthday; his mother, twenty years younger, was a strong-willed woman who was inspired by
RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
and took responsibility herself for Vigny's early education.
As was the case for every noble family, the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
diminished the family's circumstances considerably. After Napoléon's defeat at Waterloo, a Bourbon,
Louis XVIIILouis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
, the brother of
Louis XVILouis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, was restored to power. In 1814, Vigny enrolled in one of the privileged aristocratic companies of the
Maison du Roi.
Always attracted to letters and versed in French history and in knowledge of the
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, he began to write poetry. He published his first poem in 1820, published an ambitious narrative poem entitled
Eloa in 1824 on the popular romantic theme of the redemption of
SatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
. Prolonging successive leaves from the army, he settled in
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with his young English bride, Lydia Bunbury, whom he married in Pau in 1825. He collected his recent works in January 1826 in
Poèmes antiques et modernes. Three months later, he published a substantial historical novel,
Cinq-Mars, based on the life of
Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-MarsHenri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis de Cinq-Mars was a favourite of King Louis XIII of France who led the last and most nearly successful of the many conspiracies against the king's powerful first minister, the Cardinal Richelieu....
; with the success of these two volumes, Vigny seemed to be the rising star of the burgeoning
RomanticRomanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
movement, though this role would soon be usurped by one of Vigny's best friends,
Victor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
. Unlike his friend, Vigny retained his
RoyalistA royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
sympathies in politics: "The Victor I loved is no more . . . now he likes to make saucy remarks and is turning into a liberal, which does not suit him." Vigny would later denounce members of his inner circle whom he suspected of republican sympathies to the imperial police.
Alfred Victor de Vigny (27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
,
playwrightA playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, and novelist.
Life
Alfred de Vigny was born in
LochesLoches is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.It is situated southeast of Tours by railway, on the left bank of the Indre River.-History:...
(a town to which he never returned) into an aristocratic family. His father was an aged veteran of the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
who died before Vigny's 20th birthday; his mother, twenty years younger, was a strong-willed woman who was inspired by
RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
and took responsibility herself for Vigny's early education.
As was the case for every noble family, the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
diminished the family's circumstances considerably. After Napoléon's defeat at Waterloo, a Bourbon,
Louis XVIIILouis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
, the brother of
Louis XVILouis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, was restored to power. In 1814, Vigny enrolled in one of the privileged aristocratic companies of the
Maison du Roi.
Always attracted to letters and versed in French history and in knowledge of the
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, he began to write poetry. He published his first poem in 1820, published an ambitious narrative poem entitled
Eloa in 1824 on the popular romantic theme of the redemption of
SatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
. Prolonging successive leaves from the army, he settled in
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with his young English bride, Lydia Bunbury, whom he married in Pau in 1825. He collected his recent works in January 1826 in
Poèmes antiques et modernes. Three months later, he published a substantial historical novel,
Cinq-Mars, based on the life of
Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-MarsHenri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis de Cinq-Mars was a favourite of King Louis XIII of France who led the last and most nearly successful of the many conspiracies against the king's powerful first minister, the Cardinal Richelieu....
; with the success of these two volumes, Vigny seemed to be the rising star of the burgeoning
RomanticRomanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
movement, though this role would soon be usurped by one of Vigny's best friends,
Victor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
. Unlike his friend, Vigny retained his
RoyalistA royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
sympathies in politics: "The Victor I loved is no more . . . now he likes to make saucy remarks and is turning into a liberal, which does not suit him."
[http://kirjasto.sci.fi/vhugo.htm.][Hazlitt remarks in the Preface on Vigny's Royalist proclivities.] Vigny would later denounce members of his inner circle whom he suspected of republican sympathies to the imperial police.
Alfred Victor de Vigny (27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
,
playwrightA playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, and novelist.
Life
Alfred de Vigny was born in
LochesLoches is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.It is situated southeast of Tours by railway, on the left bank of the Indre River.-History:...
(a town to which he never returned) into an aristocratic family. His father was an aged veteran of the
Seven Years' WarThe Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
who died before Vigny's 20th birthday; his mother, twenty years younger, was a strong-willed woman who was inspired by
RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
and took responsibility herself for Vigny's early education.
As was the case for every noble family, the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
diminished the family's circumstances considerably. After Napoléon's defeat at Waterloo, a Bourbon,
Louis XVIIILouis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
, the brother of
Louis XVILouis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, was restored to power. In 1814, Vigny enrolled in one of the privileged aristocratic companies of the
Maison du Roi.
Always attracted to letters and versed in French history and in knowledge of the
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, he began to write poetry. He published his first poem in 1820, published an ambitious narrative poem entitled
Eloa in 1824 on the popular romantic theme of the redemption of
SatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
. Prolonging successive leaves from the army, he settled in
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with his young English bride, Lydia Bunbury, whom he married in Pau in 1825. He collected his recent works in January 1826 in
Poèmes antiques et modernes. Three months later, he published a substantial historical novel,
Cinq-Mars, based on the life of
Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-MarsHenri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis de Cinq-Mars was a favourite of King Louis XIII of France who led the last and most nearly successful of the many conspiracies against the king's powerful first minister, the Cardinal Richelieu....
; with the success of these two volumes, Vigny seemed to be the rising star of the burgeoning
RomanticRomanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
movement, though this role would soon be usurped by one of Vigny's best friends,
Victor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
. Unlike his friend, Vigny retained his
RoyalistA royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
sympathies in politics: "The Victor I loved is no more . . . now he likes to make saucy remarks and is turning into a liberal, which does not suit him."
[http://kirjasto.sci.fi/vhugo.htm.][Hazlitt remarks in the Preface on Vigny's Royalist proclivities.] Vigny would later denounce members of his inner circle whom he suspected of republican sympathies to the imperial police.
[Léon Poliakov, The History of Anti-semitism: From Voltaire to Wagner, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003, p. 364.]
An English theater troupe visiting Paris in 1827 having revived French interest in Shakespeare, Vigny worked with Emile Deschamps on a translation of
Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
(1827). In 1831, he presented his first original play,
La Maréchale d'Ancre, a historical
dramaDrama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
recounting the events leading up to the reign of
King Louis XIIILouis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
. Frequenting the theater, he met the great actress
Marie DorvalMarie Dorval was a French actress.- Early life :Born Marie Thomase Amélie Delauney; abandoned by her father when she was five years old, and losing her mother to tuberculosis while still a teenager, at age of 15 she married Alain Dorval, a much older actor, who died five years later...
, and became her jealous lover until 1838. (Vigny's wife had become a near invalid and never learned to speak French fluently; they had no children, and Vigny was also disappointed when his father-in-law's remarriage deprived the couple of an anticipated inheritance.)
In 1835, he produced a drama titled
Chatterton, based on the life of
Thomas ChattertonThomas Chatterton was an English poet and forger of pseudo-medieval poetry. He died of arsenic poisoning, either from a suicide attempt or self-medication for a venereal disease.-Childhood:...
, and in which Marie Dorval starred as Kitty Bell.
Chatterton is considered to be one of the best of the French romantic dramas and is still performed regularly. The story of Chatterton had inspired one of the three episodes of Vigny's luminous philosophical novel
Stello (1832), in which Vigny examines the relation of poetry to society and concludes that the poet, doomed to be regarded with suspicion in every social order, must remain somewhat aloof and apart from the social order.
Servitude et grandeur militairesServitude et grandeur militaires is a book in three parts by Alfred de Vigny, published in 1835. Difficult to categorize, it is not a novel but a succession of short stories sometimes loosely based on episodes within Vigny’s own experience...
(1835) was a similar tripartite meditation on the condition of the soldier.
Although Alfred de Vigny gained success as a writer, his personal life was not happy. His marriage was a disappointment; his relationship with Marie Dorval was plagued by jealousy; and his literary talent was eclipsed by the achievements of others. He grew embittered. After the death of his mother in 1838 he inherited the property of Maine-Giraud, near Angoulême, where it was said that he had withdrawn to his '
ivory towerThe term Ivory Tower originates in the Biblical Song of Solomon , and was later used as an epithet for Mary.From the 19th century it has been used to designate a world or atmosphere where intellectuals engage in pursuits that are disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday life...
' (an expression
Sainte-BeuveCharles Augustin Sainte-Beuve was a literary critic and one of the major figures of French literary history.-Early years:...
coined with reference to Vigny). There Vigny wrote some of his most famous poems, including
La Mort du loup and
La Maison du berger. (Proust regarded
La Maison du berger as the greatest French poem of the 19th century.) In 1845, after several unsuccessful attempts to be elected, Vigny became a member of the
Académie françaiseL'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
.
In later years, Vigny ceased to publish. He continued to write, however, and his
Journal is considered by modern scholars to be a great work in its own right, though it awaits a definitive scholarly edition. Vigny considered himself a thinker as well as a literary author; he was, for example, one of the first French writers to take a serious interest in
BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. His own philosophy of life was pessimistic and stoical, but celebrated human fraternity, the growth of knowledge, and mutual assistance as high values. In his later years he spent much time preparing the posthumous collection of poems now known as
Les Destinées (though Vigny's intended title was
Poèmes philosophiques) which concludes with Vigny's final message to the world,
L'Esprit pur.
Alfred de Vigny developed what is believed to have been stomach cancer in his early sixties. He endured its torments with exemplary stoicism for several years:
Quand on voit ce qu'on fut sur terre et ce qu'on laisse/Seul le silence est grand; tout le reste est faiblesse. ('When we see what we were on Earth and what we leave behind/Only silence is great; everything else is weakness.')
["La Mort du loup ('The Death of the Wolf').] Vigny died in Paris on 17 September 1863, a few months after the passing of his wife, and is buried beside her in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris, France.
Several of his works were published posthumously.
Selected works
- Le Bal
Le Bal is the title of collection of 2 novellas written by Irène Némirovsky. Published in France in 1930, it has been recently re-issued, due to the increasing interest in and popularity of the author's work, following the discovery and publication of Suite Française.Le Bal is a short novella...
(1820)
- Poèmes (1822)
- Éloa, ou La sœur des anges
Éloa, ou La sœur des anges , published in 1824 , is Alfred de Vigny's epic tripartite philosophic poem of Eloa, an innocent angel who falls in love with a stranger at odds with God. It is made clear that the stranger is Lucifer...
(1824)
- Poèmes antiques et modernes (1826)
- Cinq-Mars (1826)
- La maréchale d'Ancre (1831)
- Stello (1832)
- Quitte pour la peur (1833)
- Servitude et grandeur militaires
Servitude et grandeur militaires is a book in three parts by Alfred de Vigny, published in 1835. Difficult to categorize, it is not a novel but a succession of short stories sometimes loosely based on episodes within Vigny’s own experience...
(1835)
- Chatterton (1835)
- Les Destinées (1864)
- Journal d'un poète (1867)
- Œuvres complètes (1883–1885)
- Daphné (1912)
Les Destinées (
The Destinies) was illustrated by
Nicolas EekmanNicolas Mathieu Eekman , born Nikolaas Mathijs Eekman, is a Belgian figurative painter of Flemish descent, also known in France, in Belgium and in the Netherlands as Nico Eekman, Nic Eekman and under the pseudonym Ekma.He is also recognised for his drawings, watercolours and engravings.He...
in 1933.
External links