Algernon Charles Swinburne

Victorian era English poet, 1837-1909. His poetry was highly controversial in its day, much of it containing recurring themes of sadomasochism, death-wish, lesbianism and anti-Christian sentiments. He also wrote poems in favour of the unification of Italy. He was a student at Balliol College, and his work in his day was very popular among undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge, though today it has largely gone of fashion. He was associated with the Pre-Raphelite movement, and counted among his best friends Dante Gabrielle Rosetti.

He was an alcoholic and a highly excitable character. His health suffered as a result, until he finally broke down and was taken into care by his friend Theodore Watts, who looked after him for the rest of his life. Thereafter he lost his youthful rebelliousness and developed into a figure of social respectablity.

His vocabulary, rhyme and metre arguablly make him one of the best poets of the English language; but his poetry has been criticized as overly flowery and meaningless, choosing words to fit the rhyme rather than to contribute towards meaning.

Works include: Atlantana in Calydon, Songs and Ballads (series I, II and III -- these contain most of his more controversial works), Songs of Sunrise, Lesbia Brandon (novel published posthumously).

Some of his poems:

• Hymn to Proserpine

• The Triumph Of Time