Alfred de Musset's Romantic Irony

Advocated by Friedrich Schlegel, romantic irony reveals the poet's mature and self-reflexive attitude in creativity. The romantic poet juxtaposes an intimate, subjective perspective and a detached, objective perspective toward his work. Musset demonstrates this irony in his contention that a true poet should attain both a state of exaltation and one of detachment of his emotions. Musset's armchair dramas, Les Caprices de Marianne, On ne badine pas avec l'amour, Fantisio, and Lorenzaccio in particular, realize the ideal of Romantic theatre through his sarcastic and comic attitudes and through a reflection of his awareness of the very nature of dramatic art. (YB)