Thomas Thackeray Swinburne (April 21, 1865 – December 17, 1926) was an American poet from

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. He has been called "Rochester's poet laureate" He wrote a number of books of verse which he printed himself; one of these—''By the Genesee: Rhymes and Verses''—contains a version of the poem which, set to music by Herve D. Wilkins, has become the alma mater of the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

– ''The Genesee''. Swinburne attended the University of Rochester as a member of the class of 1892, but never graduated. He was a member of

Theta Delta Chi Theta Delta Chi () is a social fraternity that was founded in 1847 at Union College, New York, United States. While nicknames differ from institution to institution, the most common nicknames for the fraternity are TDX, TDC, Thete, Theta Delt, an ...

fraternity. One critic compared Swinburne and ''Rochester in Song and Verse'' to

Edgar Lee Masters Edgar Lee Masters (August 23, 1868 – March 5, 1950) was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of '' Spoon River Anthology'', ''The New Star Chamber and Other Essays'', ''Songs and Satires'', ''The Great V ...

and his

Spoon River Anthology ''Spoon River Anthology'' is a 1915 collection of short free verse poems by Edgar Lee Masters. The poems collectively narrate the epitaphs of the residents of Spoon River, a fictional small town named after the Spoon River, which ran near Maste ...

. In December 1926, distraught over the death of his sister Rose, to whom he had dedicated ''By the Genesee'' and ''Rochester in Song and Verse'', he committed suicide by jumping from a bridge into the

Genesee River The Genesee River ( ) is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. The river contains several waterfalls in New York at Letchworth State Park and Roch ...

. A body was found in June 1927 at Forest Lawn, on the shore of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

Webster, New York Webster is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in the northeastern corner of Monroe County, New York, United States. The town is named after orator and statesman Daniel Webster. The population was 45,327 at the 2020 census, up from ...

was identified as Swinburne's by his clothing, however, later some doubt was cast on the identification. The University of Rochester and the Rochester community honored Swinburne with a memorial, ''Swinburne Rock'', placed "beside the Genesee" near the university's Interfaith Chapel. The memorial, proposed in 1927 and dedicated in 1933, is a 26-ton glacial boulder holding a bronze plaque with verses from ''The Genesee'' sculpted by Alphonse A. Kolb. According to local legend Swinburne's ashes were interred under the rock, but when it was moved in 1968 no remains were found. News reports, however, indicate that the poet's ashes were scattered on the Genesee River in July, following his death.

Books

* ''By the Genesee: Rhymes and Verses'' (1900) * ''St. Peter's Chimes & Bells of St. Peter'' (1902) * ''Rochester Rhymes'' (1907) * ''The Steingod: A Tale of Halloween'' (1908) * ''Sonnets of Sonnenberg'' (1911) * ''Rochester in Song and Verse, with Other Rhymes'' (1924) * ''The Cosmies: A Little Science for Little People'' * ''Cascónchiagón'' (one sheet, illustrated by Thomas Davies)

References

External links

Rochester's Hope: Thomas Thackeray Swinburne
(archived) 1865 births 1926 suicides 1926 deaths 20th-century American poets Writers from Rochester, New York University of Rochester people Suicides by drowning in the United States Suicides in New York (state) {{US-poet-1860s-stub