Vigny was born near Tours into a noble family that had suffered under the Terror. After moving to Paris he was sent to a school where his classmates regularly beat him for having “de” in his name; he was then tutored at home. When Napoleon was defeated, Vigny fulfilled his family’s expectations and joined the Royal Guard, where he served ten years as a lieutenant. He was interested in literature as a boy, but it was his friendship with Victor Hugo beginning in 1820 that ignited his creative energies. A volume of Poèmes soon appeared; an historical novel Cinq-Mars (inspired by Walter Scott, whom he met in Paris) in 1826; then translations of several plays of Shakespeare; and finally, several plays of his own, of which one, Chatterton (1834), was a success on stage.