The Uranians were a 19th-century clandestine group of up to several dozen male homosexual poets and prose writers who principally wrote on the subject of the love of (or by) adolescent boys. In a strict definition they were an English literary and cultural movement; in a broader definition there were also American Uranians. The movement reached its peak between the late 1880s and mid 1890s, but has been regarded as stretching between 1858, when

William Johnson Cory William Johnson Cory (9 January 1823 – 11 June 1892), born William Johnson, was an English educator and poet. He was dismissed from his post at Eton College, Eton for encouraging a culture of intimacy, possibly non-sexual, between teachers and ...

's poetry collection ''Ionica'' appeared, and 1930, the year of publication of

Samuel Elsworth Cottam Samuel Elsworth Cottam (7 August 1863 – 30 March 1943) was an English poet and Anglican priest. Biography Cottam was born in Upper Broughton, Salford, in 1863. He graduated from Exeter College, Oxford, in 1885, where he was a friend of Edwin ...

's ''Cameos of Boyhood and Other Poems'' and of E. E. Bradford's last collection, ''Boyhood''.

Etymology

English advocates of homosexual emancipation such as

Edward Carpenter Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rightsWarren Allen Smith: ''Who's Who in Hell, A Handbook and International Directory for Human ...

and John Addington Symonds took to using the term "Uranian" to describe a comradely love that would bring about true democracy. The word was coined on the basis of classical sources, being inspired principally by the epithet

Aphrodite Urania Aphrodite Urania ( grc, Ἀφροδίτη Οὐρανία, Aphrodítē Ouranía) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, signifying "heavenly" or "spiritual", to distinguish her from her more earthly aspect of Aphrodite Pandemos, "Aphrod ...

as discussed in Plato's '' Symposium''. Plato distinguishes two forms of the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite, "the elder, having no mother, who is called the heavenly Aphrodite rania— she is the daughter of

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus ( Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars), grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter) and father of ...

; the younger, who is the daughter of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

and Dione — her we call 'common' andemos" Aphrodite Urania represents a more "celestial" love of body and soul, whereas Aphrodite Pandemos represents a more physical lust. The term Uranian came to be much used in the circle of Uranian writers for its novelty and euphoniousness, its literal meaning "heavenly" giving it a cachet of the noble and sublime. While the same classical sources supplied the German coinage "Urning" for male homosexuals, as used by the German theorist and campaigner

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (28 August 1825 – 14 July 1895) was a German lawyer, jurist, journalist, and writer who is regarded today as a pioneer of sexology and the modern gay rights movement. Ulrichs has been described as the "first gay man in ...

in the 1860s, this German derivation ran parallel to the English derivation "Uranian" rather than being its source.

Movement

The Uranian writers formed a rather cohesive group with a well-expressed philosophy. Their work is characterized by an idealised appeal to the history of

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...

, as well as by a use of conservative verse forms. Many Uranian writers borrowed classical Greek themes such as paganism, democracy and male camaraderie or intimacy, applying these concepts to their own time. Besides Greek themes, they made use of Oriental, Christian and other motifs. The chief poets of the circle were

, Lord Alfred Douglas,

Montague Summers Augustus Montague Summers (10 April 1880 – 10 August 1948) was an English author, clergyman, and teacher. He initially prepared for a career in the Church of England at Oxford and Lichfield, and was ordained as an Anglican deacon in 1908. He ...

John Francis Bloxam John Francis Bloxam (also known as Jack Bloxam) (1873–1928) was an English Uranian author and churchman. Bloxam was an undergraduate at Exeter College, Oxford when his story, "The Priest and the Acolyte", appeared in the sole issue of '' The Cha ...

, Charles Kains Jackson, John Gambril Nicholson, E. E. Bradford, John Addington Symonds, Edmund John, John Moray Stuart-Young, Charles Edward Sayle, Fabian S. Woodley, and several pseudonymous authors such as Philebus ( John Leslie Barford), A. Newman ( Francis Edwin Murray) and Arthur Lyon Raile (

Edward Perry Warren Edward Perry Warren (January 8, 1860 – December 28, 1928), known as Ned Warren, was an American art collector and the author of works proposing an idealized view of homosexual relationships. He is now best known as the former owner of the Warr ...

, who wrote ''A Defence of Uranian Love''). The flamboyantly eccentric novelist

Frederick Rolfe Frederick William Rolfe (surname pronounced ), better known as Baron Corvo (Italian for "Crow"), and also calling himself Frederick William Serafino Austin Lewis Mary Rolfe (22 July 1860 – 25 October 1913), was an English writer, artist, ph ...

(also known as "Baron Corvo") was a unifying presence in their social network, both within and without

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. Historian Neil McKenna has argued that Uranian poetry had a central role in the upper-class homosexual subcultures of the Victorian period. He insisted that poetry was the main medium through which writers such as Oscar Wilde,

Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell James Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell, (9 November 1858 – 26 July 1941), known as Sir Rennell Rodd before 1933, was a British diplomat, poet and politician. He served as British Ambassador to Italy during the First World War. Early life R ...

and

George Cecil Ives George Cecil Ives (1 October 1867 in Frankfurt, Germany – 4 June 1950 in Hampstead/Middlesex, Great Britain) was an English poet, writer, penal reformer and early homosexual law reform campaigner. Life and career Ives was the illegitimate ...

sought to challenge anti-homosexual ideas. The Uranians met each other and stayed in touch through such organisations as the

Order of Chaeronea The Order of Chaeronea was a secret society for the cultivation of a homosexual moral, ethical, cultural and spiritual ethos. It was founded by George Cecil Ives in 1897, as a result of his belief that homosexuals would not be accepted openly in s ...

, which was founded by Ives and began holding occasional meetings in London about 1897. Marginally associated with their world were more famous writers such as

, as well as the obscure but prophetic poet-printer

Ralph Chubb Ralph Nicholas Chubb (8 February 1892 – 14 January 1960) was an English poet, Printer (publisher), printer and artist. Heavily influenced by Walt Whitman, Whitman, William Blake, Blake, and the Romanticism, Romantics, his work was the creati ...

. His majestic volumes of

lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

celebrated the adolescent boy as an Ideal. A case has been made to range the Americans

George Edward Woodberry George Edward Woodberry, Litt. D., LL. D. (May 12, 1855 – January 2, 1930) was an American literary critic and poet.''The Book Buyer'', Volume 8, p.7, (1892) Charles Scribner's Sons, New Yor/ref> Biography Education Woodberry was born in Bev ...

and Cuthbert Wright among the Uranian poets. Although not expatriates, they were well-versed in the Uranian material being written in England, sought to influence an English Uranian audience and struck a rather English pose in their poetry. The Uranians' activity was the first stage in the effort to rehabilitate the ancient Greek notion of ''paiderasteia'', a quest that was not altogether successful. The age of consent today in Great Britain is legally set at 16, regardless of gender, in most circumstances.

Publications on Uranian poets and poetry

There are two book-length studies of the Uranians: ''Love In Earnest'' by Timothy d'Arch Smith (1970) and ''Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians: Hopkins, Pater and Wilde'' by Michael Matthew Kaylor (2006; available as an open-access E-text). Kaylor expands the Uranian canon by situating several major Victorians within the group. Other critics, such as Richard Dellamora (''Masculine Desire: The Sexual Politics of Victorian Aestheticism'', 1990) and Linda Dowling (''Hellenism and Homosexuality in Victorian Oxford'', 1994) have also contributed to the limited knowledge about this group.

Paul Fussell Paul Fussell Jr. (22 March 1924 – 23 May 2012) was an American cultural and literary historian, author and university professor. His writings cover a variety of topics, from scholarly works on eighteenth-century English literature to commenta ...

discusses Uranian poetry in his book '' The Great War and Modern Memory'' (1975), suggesting that it provided a model for homoerotic representations in the

war poets A war poet is a poet who participates in a war and writes about their experiences, or a non-combatant who writes poems about war. While the term is applied especially to those who served during the First World War, the term can be applied to a p ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(e.g.

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced b ...

). Poems by the Uranians – as well as by their American counterparts, sometimes called the "Calamites" after the "Calamus" section in Walt Whitman's ''

Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. T ...

'' – were included in ''Men and Boys: An Anthology'' (1924), edited by Edward Mark Slocum, which was republished with a new introduction in 1978. More recent anthologies and republications of Uranian poetry are Kaylor's exhaustive two-volume ''Lad's Love: An anthology of Uranian poetry and prose'' (2010a and 2010b) and a three-volume series by the Gay Men's Press, each volume introduced by Paul I. Webb: ''To Boys Unknown: Poems by Rev. E. E. Bradford'' (1988), ''In the Dreamy Afternoon: Poems by John Gambril Nicholson'' (1989) and ''Blue Boys: Poems by Philebus, Edmund John, Cuthbert Wright'' (1990).

Notes

References

{{Schools of poetry Male homosexuality Gay history Uranians Poetry movements LGBT rights movement LGBT poetry

Etymology

Movement

Publications on Uranian poets and poetry

Further reading

Notes

References