Alfred Demusset
Poet
French poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era. His poetry collections include Un Spectacle dans un fauteuil and Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie; his plays include Le Chandelier and Bettine.
His mother hosted high-brow Parisian society events; meanwhile, the young de Musset entertained himself by staging impromptu theatrical performances.
He died of heart failure, a condition that was further complicated by his alcoholism. One symptom of his aortic trouble was a strange bobbing of his head, an indicator that came to be known in medicine as "de Musset's sign."
His autobiographical novel, La Confession d'un Enfant du Siecle, details his two-year love affair with French writer Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupi (better known by the their pen name of George Sand).
Fellow French poet Arthur Rimbaud heavily criticized de Musset's work.