Algernon Charles Swinburne
| Algernon Charles Swinburne | |
|---|---|
Swinburne aged 52
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| Born |
5 April 1837 London, England |
| Died | 10 April 1909 (aged 72) London, England |
| Resting place |
St. Boniface Church, Bonchurch, Isle of Wight |
| Occupation | Poet, playwright, novelist, and critic |
| Education | Eton College |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
| Period | Victorian era |
| Literary movement | Decadence, Pre-Raphaelite, Aestheticism |
| Notable work | Poems and Ballads |
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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 of the Encyclopædia Britannica. A controversial figure at the time, Swinburne was a sado-masochist and alcoholic and was obsessed with the Middle Ages and lesbianism.
Swinburne wrote about many taboo topics, such as lesbianism, cannibalism, sado-masochism, and anti-theism. His poems have many common motifs, such as the Ocean, Time, and Death. Several historical people are featured in his poems, such as Sappho ("Sapphics"), Anactoria ("Anactoria"), Jesus ("Hymn to Proserpine": Galilaee, La. "Galilean") and Catullus ("To Catullus").
Swinburne was born at 7 Chester Street, Grosvenor Place, London, on 5 April 1837. He was the eldest of six children born to Captain (later Admiral) Charles Henry Swinburne (1797–1877) and Lady Jane Henrietta, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Ashburnham, a wealthy Northumbrian family. He grew up at East Dene in Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight.
As a child, Swinburne was "nervous" and "frail," but "was also fired with nervous energy and fearlessness to the point of being reckless."
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