Alfred de Musset (1810-1857) belonged to a distinguished family. After brilliant studies, he became a popular member of fashionable society and began to write poetry and plays. The great event in Musset's life was an unhappy love affair with George Sand (1833-4), which inspired his most poignant works (the "Nuits" On ne badine fas avec l'amour, and so on) but left him broken in spirit.

• "Alfred de Musset." Representative French Poetry. Ed. Victor E. Graham. 2nd edn. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965. 67-74.
• de Musset, Alfred. Oeuvres-complètes. Paris: Charpentier, 1876. Internet Archive