A poor boy apprenticed to a printer, Glatigny wrote a historical drama at 16 and a year later ran off to join a traveling theatre company. While he was on the road the barbed language of Théodore de Banville's Odes funambulesques (“Fantastic Odes”) inspired him to write his first book of poems, Les Vignes folles (1860; “The Mad Vines”). Later collections included Les Flèches d'or (1864; “The Golden Barbs”) and Gilles et Pasquins (1872).

Even after publishing he continued his theatrical travels; stories of his many loves and his adventures became as widely known as his poems. His one-act comedy in verse, L'Illustre Brizacier (1873; “The Illustrious Brizacier”), was based on his own imprisonment in Corsica when he was mistaken for a wanted criminal. His other plays are Le Singe (1872; “The Monkey”) and Les Folies-Marigny (1872; “The Marigny Madnesses”). His fame was aggrandized by his fellow Parnassian Catulle Mendès, who wrote a play, Glatigny, drame funambulesque (1906; “Glatigny, a Grotesque Drama”) about his life.