Charles Algernon Swinburne

Charles Algernon Swinburne born 5 April 1837 (d. 1909)

Algernon Charles Swinburne was a Victorian-era English poet. His poetry was highly controversial in its day, much of it containing recurring themes of sadomasochism, death-wish, lesbianism and irreligion.

Swinburne was born in Grosvenor Place, London, the eldest of six children born to Captain (later Admiral) Charles Henry Swinburne and Lady Jane Hamilton. He grew up near East Dene on the Isle of Wight and attended Eton college 1849-53, where he first started writing poetry, and then Balliol College, Oxford 1856-60 with a brief hiatus when he was rusticated from the university in 1859, returning in May 1860. At university he associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and counted among his best friends Dante Gabriel Rossetti. After university he lived in London and started an active writing career.

His poetic works include: Atalanta in Calydon (1865), Poems and Ballads I (1866), Songs before Sunrise (1871), Poems and Ballads II, (1878) Tristram of Lyonesse (1882), Poems and Ballads III (1889), and the novel Lesbia Brandon (published posthumously).

Poems and Ballads I caused a sensation when it was first published, especially the poems written in homage of Sappho of Lesbos. Other poems in this volume evoke a Victorian fascination with the Middle Ages, and are explicitly medieval in style, tone and construction.

Swinburne was an alcoholic and sexual masochist, and a highly excitable character. His health suffered as a result, and in 1879 at the age of 42 he had a mental and physical breakdown and was taken into care by his friend Theodore Watts, who looked after him for the rest of his life in Putney. Thereafter he lost his youthful rebelliousness and developed into a figure of social respectability. He died on 10 April 1909 at the age of 72 and was buried at Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight.

Swinburne is considered a decadent poet, although he perhaps professed to more vice than he actually indulged in. His mastery of vocabulary, rhyme and meter arguably put him among the most talented English language poets in history, although he has also been criticised for his florid style and word choices that only fit the rhyme scheme rather than contributing to the meaning of the piece.

Swinburne's work was once quite popular though today it has largely gone out of fashion. This largely mirrors the popular and academic consensus regarding his work as well, although his early works have never been out of critical favour.