1810-1857.
A lyric poet of a comparatively narrow range, but within it
surpassingly genuine and spontaneous. Almost his only theme was the
passion of love, in some form or degree. But what he lacked in breadth
he made up in the directness and intensity of his accent, and these
eminently lyric qualities give his lyrics a distinction among those of
his country. He began as a Romanticist, but soon grew away from the
school of Hugo as it developed. With his negligence of form and his
surrender to the passion of the moment, he is the opposite of Gautier;
and the poets of the later school which derives from Gautier have
neglected and depreciated him.
Works: _Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie_, 1830; _le Spectacle dans un
fauteuil_, 1833; after this most of his poems appeared in the _Revue
des Deux Mondes_; they are now collected in _Premières poésies_, 1
vol., containing the poems of the first two volumes and a few others,
and _Poésies nouvelles_, 1 vol., containing the _Nuits_, and the later
poems.
For reference: P. de Musset, _Biographie d'Alfred de Musset_ 1877
(naturally partial); A. Barine, _Alfred de Musset_, 1893; Spoelberch
de Lovenjoul, _la Véritable histoire de "Elle et Lui"_ 1897;
Sainte-Beuve, _Portraits contemporains, vol. ii; _Causeries du lundi_,
vols, i and xiii; E. Montégut, _Nos Morts contemporains_, 1883; E.
Faguet, _le Dix-neuvième siècle_, 1887; F. Brunetière, _Évolution
de la poésie lyrique_, vol. i, 1894; M. Clouard, _Bibliographie des
oeuvres d'Alfred de Musset_, 1883; O. L. Kuhns, _Sélections from
de Musset_, Boston, 1895, for the sympathetic and interesting
introduction.
143. Au LECTEUR. This sonnet was prefixed in 1840 to a new edition of
his poems.
145. STANCES. 1828; from _Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie_.
3. VESPRÉES; see note on 7, 10. LA NUIT DE MAI. May 1835. The
poet's _liaison_ with the novelist George Sand, begun in 1833, and
culminating in the Italian journey of 1834, with its successions of
passion, violent ruptures, and penitent reconciliations, was the
profoundest experience of his life, and the inspiration of many of
his poems, including the famous _Nuits_ of May, August, October and
December.
146. 21. PARESSEUX ENFANT; the charge of indolence had often already
been brought against Musset; cf. _ton oisiveté_, 150. 3.
147. 29. ARGOS, the capital of Argolis, in the Peloponnesus. PTÉLEON,
Pteleum, an ancient town of Thessaly (Iliad ii, 697.) 30. MESSA, city
and harbor of Laconia (Iliad ii, 582); Homer's epithet is "abounding
in doves." 31. PÉLION, a mountain in Thessaly ; Homer (Iliad ii, 757)
calls it "quivering with leaves."
148. 1. TITARÈSE, a river in Thessaly. Homer's epithet (Iliad ii, 751)
is "lovely". 3. OLOOSSONE, a city in Thessaly, called "white" also by
Homer (Iliad ii, 739). Camyre, no doubt Homer's Kameiros (Iliad ii,
656), which he calls "shining." It was situated on the island of
Rhodes; Musset neglects the geographical fact in bringing it into
connection with Oloossone.