The Poetry of Algeron Charles Swinburne: Trailblazing writer whose worked often touched on taboo topics of Victorian times
Written by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Narrated by Richard Mitchley, Ghizela Rowe and Gideon Wagner
()
About this audiobook
Algernon Charles Swinburne was born on April 5th, 1837, in London, into a wealthy Northumbrian family. He was educated at Eton and at Balliol College, Oxford, but did not complete a degree.
In 1860 Swinburne published two verse dramas but achieved his first literary success in 1865 with Atalanta in Calydon, written in the form of classical Greek tragedy. The following year "Poems and Ballads" brought him instant notoriety. He was now identified with "indecent" themes and the precept of art for art's sake.
Although he produced much after this success in general his popularity and critical reputation declined. The most important qualities of Swinburne's work are an intense lyricism, his intricately extended and evocative imagery, metrical virtuosity, rich use of assonance and alliteration, and bold, complex rhythms.
Swinburne's physical appearance was small, frail, and plagued by several other oddities of physique and temperament. Throughout the 1860s and 1870s he drank excessively and was prone to accidents that often left him bruised, bloody, or unconscious. Until his forties he suffered intermittent physical collapses that necessitated removal to his parents' home while he recovered.
Throughout his career Swinburne also published literary criticism of great worth. His deep knowledge of world literatures contributed to a critical style rich in quotation, allusion, and comparison. He is particularly noted for discerning studies of Elizabethan dramatists and of many English and French poets and novelists. As well he was a noted essayist and wrote two novels.
In 1879, Swinburne's friend and literary agent, Theodore Watts-Dunton, intervened during a time when Swinburne was dangerously ill. Watts-Dunton isolated Swinburne at a suburban home in Putney and gradually weaned him from alcohol, former companions and many other habits as well.
Much of his poetry in this period may be inferior but some individual poems are exceptional; "By the North Sea," "Evening on the Broads," "A Nympholept," "The Lake of Gaube," and "Neap-Tide."
Swinburne lived another thirty years with Watts-Dunton. He denied Swinburne's friends access to him, controlled the poet's money, and restricted his activities. It is often quoted that 'he saved the man but killed the poet'.
Swinburne died on April 10th, 1909 at the age of seventy-two.
This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.
More audiobooks from Algernon Charles Swinburne
The Treasury of Victorian Poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFifty Shades of Roses: 50 of the best poems about everyones favourite flower Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to The Poetry of Algeron Charles Swinburne
Related audiobooks
The Poetry of Rupert Brooke Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poetry of Edward Thomas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life & Works of W. B. Yeats Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poetry of Robert Southey: Poems from the Bristol born Oxford graduate and Poet Laureate Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of W B Yeats Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHymn to Proserpine: And Other Poems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Hugely influential co-founder of the Romantic movement in England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Treasury of Romantic Poetry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dionea: Violet Paget, wrote under a male pseudonym to help her career, a huge pioneer of supernatural fiction. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Graveyard Poets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lake Poets: Three of the titans of English poetry muse in one of Englands finest landscapes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVirginia Woolf: 3 Essays on Dostoyevsky Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Poets: Wilfred Owen: The War Poetry of Wilfred Owen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Poets: John Clare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elizabethan Poets Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Pre-Raphaelite Poets: A poetic movement interestingly started by painters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Realms of Gold Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poetry of Wales Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5John Keats Selected Poems (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrancesco Petrarch Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chaucer: A European Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poet Li Po: A Study Of One Of China's Great Cultural Treasures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Metaphysical Poets Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poetry of the 17th Century - Volume 1 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5John Keats Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5William Blake Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Poetry For You
Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rumi's Little Book of Life: The Garden of the Soul, the Heart, and the Spirit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Strength In Our Scars Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Inferno of Dante Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Boys Are Poisonous: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sun and Her Flowers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Classic Hundred Poems: All-Time Favorites Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Poems: Selected and Introduced by Garrison Keillor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Home Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Would Leave Me If I Could.: A Collection of Poetry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prophet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poetry of Walt Whitman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leaves of Grass: 1855 Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: with Pearl and Sir Orfeo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Raven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf: Translated by Seamus Heaney Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Milk and Honey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf: A New Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poems of T.S. Eliot Read by Jeremy Irons Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5W. B. Yeats: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: A New Translation by Caroline Alexander Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Metamorphoses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Promises of Gold Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Goldenrod: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Poetry of Algeron Charles Swinburne
0 ratings0 reviews