Alfred de Vigny

About Alfred de Vigny

Who is it?: Poet, Playwright, Novelist
Birth Day: March 27, 1797
Birth Place: Loches, French
Occupation: Poet, translator, novelist
Literary movement: Romanticism

Alfred de Vigny

Alfred de Vigny was born on March 27, 1797 in Loches, French, is Poet, Playwright, Novelist. One of the major writers in the era of French Romanticism, Alfred de Vigny was a poet, playwright and novelist who began his career as a military man before shifting his focus to writing. A deep thinker and an empathetic individual, he is often considered to be the most philosophical among all the French Romantic writers. He was born into an aristocratic family though his family lost much of its wealth during the French Revolution. As a young man he harbored a love for the arms and easily obtained a position in the army due to his aristocratic legacy. However, he never got the opportunity to fight in the battlefield and was thus bored with this career. Meanwhile he started writing poems, carrying forward the passion for literature he always had from his childhood days. Soon the purpose of his life became clear and he left the military to embark on a career as a writer. He started out as a poet and was soon writing plays and novels as well. His works became popular in the literary circles and he was hailed as the rising star of the Romantic Movement which was sweeping France during the 19th century.
Alfred de Vigny is a member of Writers

Does Alfred de Vigny Dead or Alive?

As per our current Database, Alfred de Vigny has been died on 17 September 1863(1863-09-17) (aged 66)\nParis, France.

🎂 Alfred de Vigny - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday

When Alfred de Vigny die, Alfred de Vigny was 66 years old.

Popular As Alfred de Vigny
Occupation Writers
Age 66 years old
Zodiac Sign Aries
Born March 27, 1797 (Loches, French)
Birthday March 27
Town/City Loches, French
Nationality French

🌙 Zodiac

Alfred de Vigny’s zodiac sign is Aries. According to astrologers, the presence of Aries always marks the beginning of something energetic and turbulent. They are continuously looking for dynamic, speed and competition, always being the first in everything - from work to social gatherings. Thanks to its ruling planet Mars and the fact it belongs to the element of Fire (just like Leo and Sagittarius), Aries is one of the most active zodiac signs. It is in their nature to take action, sometimes before they think about it well.

🌙 Chinese Zodiac Signs

Alfred de Vigny was born in the Year of the Snake. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Snake are seductive, gregarious, introverted, generous, charming, good with money, analytical, insecure, jealous, slightly dangerous, smart, they rely on gut feelings, are hard-working and intelligent. Compatible with Rooster or Ox.

Some Alfred de Vigny images

Biography/Timeline

1814

As was the case for every noble family, the French Revolution diminished the family's circumstances considerably. After Napoléon's defeat at Waterloo, a Bourbon, Louis XVIII, the brother of Louis XVI, was restored to power, and in 1814 Vigny enrolled in one of the privileged aristocratic companies of the Maison du Roi (king's guard) as a second lieutenant.

1822

Though he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1822 and to captain the following year, the military profession in time of peace bored him. After taking several leaves of absence he abandoned military life in 1827, having already published his first poem Le Bal in 1820 and an ambitious narrative poem Éloa in 1824 on the popular romantic theme of the redemption of Satan.

1825

Prolonging successive leaves from the army, he settled in Paris 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 the first important historical novel in French, Cinq-Mars, based on the life of Louis XIII's favorite Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars, who conspired against the Cardinal de Richelieu. With the success of these two volumes, Vigny seemed to be the rising star of the Romantic movement, though one of Vigny's best friends, Victor Hugo, soon usurped that role. Unlike Hugo, Vigny retained his Royalist sympathies in politics and wrote of Hugo: "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 later denounced members of his inner circle whom he suspected of republican sympathies to the imperial police.

1827

The visit of an English theater troupe to Paris in 1827 revived French interest in Shakespeare. Vigny worked with Emile Deschamps on a translation of Romeo and Juliet. In 1831 he presented his first original play, La Maréchale d'Ancre, a historical drama recounting the events leading up to the reign of King Louis XIII. Attending the theater, he met the great Actress Marie Dorval, 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.)

1835

In 1835 Vigny produced a drama titled Chatterton, based on the life of Thomas Chatterton, with Marie Dorval starring 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 philosophical novel Stello (1832), in which he examined the relationship of poetry to society and concluded 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 militaires (1835) was a similar tripartite meditation on the condition of the soldier.

1838

Although 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 tower' (an expression Sainte-Beuve 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 française.

1863

Vigny developed what is believed to have been stomach cancer in his early sixties. He endured its torments with exemplary stoicism for several years: A voir ce que l'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.') Vigny died in Paris on 17 September 1863, a few months after the death of his wife. He was buried beside her in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris. Several of his works were published posthumously.

1960

Vigny was born in Loches (a town to which he never returned) into an aristocratic family. His father was a 60-year-old veteran of the Seven Years' War who died before Vigny's 20th birthday; his mother, 20 years younger, was a strong-willed woman who was inspired by Rousseau and took personal responsibility for Vigny's early education. His maternal grandfather, the Marquis de Baraudin, had served as commodore in the royal navy.

Alfred de Vigny trend