''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 many plays – all tragedies – and collections of poetry such as '' Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the Eleve ...

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

taboo A taboo 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, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

topics, such as

lesbianism A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. 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 female homo ...

, sado-masochism, and anti-theism. The poems have many common elements, such as the

Ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

, and

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

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

Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...

Anactoria Anactoria (or Anaktoria; ) is a woman mentioned in the work of the ancient Greek poet Sappho. Sappho, who wrote in the late seventh and early sixth centuries BCE, names Anactoria as the object of her desire in a poem numbered as fragment ...

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

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

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; ), known as Catullus (), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes. Life ...

Poems

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

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 the ...

*Ilicet *

Hermaphroditus In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus (; , ) was a child of Aphrodite and Hermes. According to Ovid, he was born a remarkably beautiful boy whom the naiad Salmacis attempted to rape and prayed to be united with forever. A god, in answer to her pra ...

*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 *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 (PRB), 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, ...

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

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

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; ), 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 1265. His name ...

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

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

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

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

, 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 and her lover

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

References

External links

''Poems and Ballads''
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

* {{Algernon Charles Swinburne 19th-century poems 1866 books 1866 in England LGBTQ poetry BDSM literature LGBTQ literature in the United Kingdom Cultural depictions of Sappho Poetry by Algernon Charles Swinburne