Alfred de Vigny

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  • Bowman, Frank Paul, "The Poetic Practices of Vigny's 'Poèmes philosophiques'," The Modern Language Review LX, No. 3 (July 1965): 359-68. (Argues that many of the qualities considered faults in Vigny's verse were actually part of the poet's effort to revise poetic form so it corresponded more closely with human experience.)
  • Brandes, George, "De Vigny's Poetry and Hugo's 'Orientales'," in his Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature: The Romantic School in France, Vol. V, translated by Diana White and Mary Morison, pp. 81-9. William Heinemann, 1904. (Suggests that Vigny was distinguished by his "cult of pure intellect and his proud, stoic feeling of solitude.")
  • Brereton, Geoffrey, "Alfred de Vigny," in his An Introduction to French Poets: Villion to the Present Day, revised edition, pp. 112-21. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1973. (Offers a mixed evaluation of Vigny's poetic accomplishment, criticizing his poems as "awkward, grotesque, unnatural as well as unspiritual.")
  • Bury, J. P. T., "A Glimpse of Vigny in 1830," French Studies Bulletin 19 (Summer 1986): 8-10. (Provides anecdotal evidence of a likely biographical source for Captain Renaud of Vigny's Servitude et grandeur militaires.)
  • Charlton, D. G., "Prose Fiction," in The French Romantics, Volume 1, edited by D. G. Charlton, pp. 163-203. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. (Briefly mentions Vigny's Stello and Servitude et grandeur militaires within a survey of nineteenth-century French narrative fiction.)
  • Corkran, Henriette, "A Little Girl's Recollections of Le Comte Alfred de Vigny," Temple Bar 85 (April 1889): 580-83. (A selection of notes written to the author by Vigny, as well as her memories of their time together when she was a young child and he a man in his sixties.)
  • Croce, Benedetto, "Alfred de Vigny," in his European Literature in the Nineteenth Century, translated by Douglas Ainslie, pp. 131-44. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923. (Discusses Vigny's conception of the role of the poet, considers the pessimism of his poetry, and praises his poems for their intensity and profundity.)
  • Denommé, Robert T., "Chatterton, Ruy Blas, Lorenzaccio: Three Tragic Heroes," Laurels 61, No. 1 (Spring 1990): 55-67. (Evaluates the historical protagonists of three Romantic dramas, including that of Vigny's Chatterton.)
  • Dey, William Morton, "The Pessimism and Optimism of Alfred de Vigny," Studies in Philology XXXIII, No. 3 (July 1936): 405-16. (Relates images of hope and despair in Vigny's poetry with incidents in his life and concludes that his later poetry shows a growing optimism and increasing religious faith.)
  • Doolittle, James, "Lines 65-66 of Vigny's Moïse: Another Suggestion," Modern Language Notes 80, No. 5 (December 1965): 624-8. (Interprets a problematic couplet in Vigny's "Moïse" as referring to the "mystery of original sin.")
  • Doolittle, James, Alfred de Vigny. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1967. 154 p. (Surveys Vigny's works in the context of his era and the events of his life.)
  • Dénommé, Robert T., "Alfred de Vigny, Preacher in an Ivory Tower," in his Nineteenth Century French Romantic Poets, pp. 63-90. Southern Illinois University Press, 1969. (Offers a close reading of the sources, symbols, form, and theme of the most important poems in Poèmes antiques et modernes and Les destinées.)
  • Gerothwohl, Maurice A., "Alfred de Vigny on Genius and Women," The Fortnightly Review XCIII, No. DLIII (1 January 1913): 94-111. (Examines the depiction of genius and women in Vigny's "Moïse," "L'esprit pur," "Eloa," and "La colère de Samson.")
  • Guérard, Albert, "Alfred de Vigny," in his Fossils and Presences, pp. 135-63. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1957. (Criticizes Vigny for relying too heavily on technique, while admiring the technical facility evident in both his poetry and his prose.)
  • Haig, Stirling, "Notes on Vigny's Composition," The Modern Language Review LX, No. 3 (July 1965): 369-73. (Offers a close analysis of Vigny's creative process in the writing of "La Colère de Samson" and "La Maison du Berger.")
  • Hartman, Elwood, "Alfred de Vigny on Progress: An Optimistic Pessimist," Proceedings: Pacific Northwest Conference on Foreign Language Vol. XXI (April 1970): 27-33. (Suggests that Vigny, while often despairing in the face of humanity's daily struggle, continued to believe in historical progress and the eventual triumph of the spirit.)
  • Howarth, W. D., "Drama," in The French Romantics, Volume 2, edited by D. G. Charlton, pp. 205-247. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. (Assesses Vigny as one of four major French Romantic dramatists, but considers Chatterton to be primarily of historical interest.)
  • Lacy, Norris J., "Simile in 'La mort du loup'," The USF Language Quarterly XV, No. 1-2 (Fall-Winter 1976): 59-60. (Reads the ambiguous similes in "La mort du loup" as vehicles for Vigny's pessimistic vision of the human condition.)
  • McGoldrick, J.M., "Vigny's Unorthodox Christ," Modern Language Notes 85, No. 4 (May 1970): 510-14. (Argues that the ambiguous depiction of Christ in "Le Mont de Oliviers" contributes to the "organic disunity of the poem.")
  • McGoldrick, Malcolm, "Vigny's Le Mont des Oliviers and Amos," French Studies Bulletin 32 (Autumn 1989): 5-8. (Examines Vigny's borrowing from the Old Testament in "Le Mont des Oliviers.")
  • Mill, John Stuart, "Poems and Romances of Alfred de Vigny," in his Essays on Poetry, edited by F. Parvin Sharpless, pp. 75-137. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1976. (Examines the social and historical conditions that influenced Vigny's poetry, particularly the effects of the Revolution of 1830.)
  • Minogue, Valerie, "The Tableau in 'La Colère de Samson'," The Modern Language Review LX, No. 3 (July 1965): 374-78. (Studies the tension between visual and poetic elements in the pictorial descriptions in "La Colère de Samson.")
  • Porter, Laurence M., "The Art of Verse Narrative in Vigny's 'La neige'," Romance Notes XI, No. 1 (Autumn 1969): 57-60. (Examines how Vigny "purged" his poetry of seventeenth-century poetic conventions and stylistic devices.)
  • Porter, Laurence M., "Vigny's Influence on Mallarme's Early Poetry," Romance Notes XI, No. 3 (Spring 1970): 536-38. (Identifies in Mallarmé some echoes of Vigny's verses.)
  • Savage, Catharine, "Cette Prison Nommée La Vie': Vigny's Prison Metaphor," Studies in Romanticism Vol. IX, No. 2 (Spring 1970): 99-113. (Traces the prison metaphor through Vigny's poetry and prose and connects this image to Vigny's family history as well as his personal experiences.)
  • Smith, Albert B., "Vigny's 'Le cor': The Tragedy of Service," Studies in Romanticism Vol. VII, No. 3 (Spring 1968): 159-65. (Maintains that rather than being symbolic, "Le cor" is a narrative: a poetic review of physical and mental experience.)
  • Thibaudet, Albert, "The Generation of 1820: Alfred de Vigny," in his French Literature from 1795 to Our Era, translated by Charles Lam Markmann, pp. 122-28. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1968. (Discusses Vigny's reputation, his use of myth, emotion, and philosophical ideas, as well as his depiction of love.)
  • West, Anthony, "Alfred de Vigny," in his Principles and Persuasions: The Literary Essays of Anthony West, pp. 52-60. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1957. (Offers a brief history of Vigny's life and career as well as a negative appraisal of his poetic accomplishments.)
  • Whittaker, John, "Chênedollé's Gladiateur and Vigny's Capitaine," French Studies Bulletin, No. 57 (Winter 1995): 6-9. (Compares the heroic mariner of Vigny's poem “La Bouteille à la mer” to the central figure of C. J. L. de Chênedollé's “Le Gladiateur mourant.”)
  • Woronzoff, Alexander, "The Pattern of Discovery in Lermontov's Hero of Our Time and Vigny's Servitude et grandeur militaries," Zapiski Russkoi Akademicheskoi Gruppy 23 (1990): 51-61. (Traces parallels between the narrative structure of Vigny's Servitude et grandeur militaries and that of Mikhail Lermontov's Hero of Our Time, observing the likely influence of the former upon the latter.)

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Vigny, Alfred (Victor) de (Poetry Criticism)
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