The Uranians were a late-19th-century and early-20th-century clandestine group of up to several dozen male

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

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's poetry collection ''Ionica'' appeared, and 1930, the year of publication of Samuel Elsworth Cottam'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 rights and prison reform whilst advocating vegetarianism and taking a stance against vivise ...

and

John Addington Symonds John Addington Symonds Jr. (; 5 October 1840 – 19 April 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies of writers and artists. Although mar ...

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 (, Latinized as Venus Urania) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, signifying a "heavenly" or "spiritual" aspect descended from the sky-god Ouranos to distinguish her from the more earthly epithet of Aphrodite Pandemo ...

as discussed in Plato's ''

Symposium In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...

''. 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. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...

; the younger, who is the daughter of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

and Dione — her we call 'common' ." 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. He is today regarded as a pioneer of sexology and the modern LGBT rights movement, gay rights movement. Ulrichs has been described as ...

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 () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, 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 William Johnson Cory,

Lord Alfred Douglas Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford University he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carr ...

, Montague Summers,

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

, Charles Kains Jackson,

John Gambril Nicholson John Gambril (Francis) Nicholson (1866–1931) was an English school teacher, poet, and amateur photographer. He was one of the Uranians, a clandestine group of British men who wrote poetry idealizing the beauty and love of adolescent boys. As a ...

, E. E. Bradford,

, 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, 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 ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. 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 Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

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 sought to challenge anti-homosexual ideas. The Uranians met each other and stayed in touch through such organisations as the Order of Chaeronea, 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. His majestic volumes of

lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, 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 ...

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 successful. The

age of consent The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to Human sexual activity, sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is un ...

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 commentary ...

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 War poetry is poetry on the topic of war. While the term is applied especially to works of the First World War, the term can be applied to poetry about any war, including Homer's ''Iliad'', from around the 8th century BC as well as poetry of th ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

(e.g.

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen Military Cross, 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 Trench warfare, trenches and Chemi ...

). 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. After self-publishing it in 1855, he spent most of his professional life writing, revising, and expanding the collection until his death in 1892. Either six or nine separa ...

'' – 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 Pederastic literature Gay history Uranians Poetry movements LGBTQ rights movement LGBTQ poetry

Etymology

Movement

Publications on Uranian poets and poetry

Further reading

Notes

References