''Poems and Ballads, First Series'' is the first collection of poems by

Algernon Charles Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as '' Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...

, published in 1866. The book was instantly popular, and equally controversial. Swinburne wrote about many

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

topics, such as

lesbianism A lesbian is a homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with fema ...

sado-masochism Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refe ...

, and

anti-theism Antitheism, also spelled anti-theism, is the philosophical position that theism should be opposed. The term has had a range of applications. In secular contexts, it typically refers to direct opposition to the belief in any deity. Etymology The ...

. The poems have many common elements, such as the

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wor ...

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

, and

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

. Several historical persons are mentioned in the poems, such as

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

, Anactoria,

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

('' Galilaee'', La. "Galilean") and

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His ...

Poems

*A Ballad of Life *A Ballad of Death * Laus Veneris *Phædra * The Triumph of Time *Les Noyades *A Leave-Taking *Itylus * Anactoria *

Hymn to Proserpine “Hymn to Proserpine” is a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne, published in ''Poems and Ballads'' in 1866. The poem is addressed to the goddess Proserpina, the Roman equivalent of Persephone, but laments the rise of Christianity for displacing ...

*Ilicet *

Hermaphroditus In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus or Hermaphroditos (; grc, Ἑρμαφρόδιτος, Hermaphróditos, ) was a child of Aphrodite and Hermes. According to Ovid, he was born a remarkably handsome boy whom the naiad Salmacis attempted to rape an ...

*Fragoletta *Rondel *Satia te Sanguine *A Litany *A Lamentation *Anima Anceps *In the Orchard *A Match *Faustine *A Cameo *Song before Death *Rococo *Stage Love *The Leper *A Ballad of Burdens *Rondel *Before the Mirror *Erotion *In Memory of Walter Savage Landor *A Song in Time of Order. 1852 *A Song in Time of Revolution. 1860 * To Victor Hugo *Before Dawn * Dolores *

The Garden of Proserpine "The Garden of Proserpine" is a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne, published in '' Poems and Ballads'' in 1866. Proserpine is the Latin spelling of Persephone, a goddess married to Hades, god of the underworld. According to some accounts, she ...

*Hesperia *Love at Sea *April *Before Parting *The Sundew *Félise *An Interlude *Hendecasyllabics *

Sapphics The Sapphic stanza, named after Sappho, is an Aeolic verse form of four lines. Originally composed in quantitative verse and unrhymed, since the Middle Ages imitations of the form typically feature rhyme and accentual prosody. It is "the longest ...

*At Eleusis *August *A Christmas Carol *The Masque of Queen Bersabe *St. Dorothy *The Two Dreams *Aholibah *Love and Sleep *Madonna Mia *The King's Daughter *After Death *May Janet *The Bloody Son *The Sea-Swallows *The Year of Love *Dedication

Influences

*Swinburne dedicated ''Poems and Ballads'' to fellow

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Jam ...

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...

. Burne-Jones' painting ''Laus Veneris'', first exhibited in 1878, shared the story of

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and ...

as its inspiration with Swinburne's poem of the same name. *The Borghese ''Hermaphroditus'' at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...

inspired Swinburne's poem "Hermaphroditus", subscribed "''Au Musée du Louvre, Mars'' 1863". *The

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...

, to the south of the British coast, was Swinburne's home throughout his childhood and later life; his love for the sea appears often in his poetry, where it is a metaphor for time, as in "Love at Sea", written in imitation of

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

, and "The Triumph of Time". *The first documented use of the word "lesbianism" to refer to female homosexuality is in 1870,Zimmerman, pp. 776–777. four years after Swinburne published this book, which includes the poem "Sapphics", where he refers to

Sappho of Lesbos Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied ...

and her lover Anactoria as "Lesbians". Although use of the term lesbian in this way was present as early as 1732, "sapphic" or "tribade" were more commonly used until the late 19th century, when Swinburne was among the first to popularize the term lesbian.

Second and Third Series

In 1878 Swinburne published a collection of poems titled ''Poems and Ballads, Second Series'', which is less political, and also shows the influence of French literature. It includes verses to Baudelaire, Gautier, Villon, Hugo, and Théodore de Banville. It also contains his translations of Villon. In 1889, Swinburne published a collection of poems titled ''Poems and Ballads, Third Series'', which contains "To a Seamew", "Pan and Thalassius", "Neap-Tide", elegies for Sir Henry Taylor and John William Inchbold, and border ballads, that were written for an unfinished novel, ''

Lesbia Brandon ''Lesbia Brandon'' is an erotic novel written by Algernon Charles Swinburne between 1859 and 1868, but suppressed because it was considered pornographic in its day. It was originally illustrated by Simeon Solomon. Titled and published Never co ...

''.Gosse, Edmund. ''The Life of Swinburne''. Cambridge Univ. Press. (2011). pp. 32-34

References

{{wikisource

External links

''Poems and Ballads''
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

19th-century poems 1866 books 1866 in England LGBT poetry BDSM literature LGBT literature in the United Kingdom Cultural depictions of Sappho Works by Algernon Charles Swinburne