Algernon Charles Swinburne

A LGE R N O N C H A RLE S SWINBURNE A CRITICAL STUDY BY E DWARD THOMAS NEW YO RK MITCH ELL KE NNE R LE Y MCM" II To WALTE R DE LA MARE ’ ti z r t an i . Ques ons, 0 roy al trave ller, are eas e h auswe s - THE THREE MULLA M ULGAB S. N O T E T I AM very much indebted to Mr . heodore Watts - D a nton for permission to quote from i ’ t Sw nburne s prose and poe ry in this book , f for and to my friend , Mr . Clif ord Bax , many consultations . E . T . CONTENTS CHAPTE R PAGE I T T I C YDO . A ALAN A N AL N II . PREPARATIONS H III . THE APPRO AC I V PO MS AND B DS . E ALLA V OPI IO S : PROS -W ORKS . N N E B F U VI . SONGS E ORE S NRISE T R PO MS CH R T RISTI S VII . LA E E A AC E C VIII . LATER POEMS RE SULTS TRISTR M OFLY NE I" . A O SSE THE PLAYS ATALANTA I N CALYDO N ’ I T was the age of Browning s Dramatis Persona ’ ’ D of L andor s William Morris s efence Guenevere , ’ T of Heroic Idylls , ennyson s Idylls the King , ’ L ’ Meredith s Modern ove , Robert Buchanan s L P : L A ondon oems ongfellow , lexander Smith and Owen Meredith were great men . The The year 1 8 64 arrived . poetical atmo ” P sphere was exhausted and heavy, says rofessor “ Mackail of , like that a sultry afternoon darken f to . o ing thunder Out that stagnation broke , the ofA ta la nta all in a moment, blaze and crash in a l don . n C y It was somethi g quite new, quite unexampled . It revealed a new language in as t . English , a new world it seemed in poe ry Two years passed , and , as an Edinburgh reviewer “ n of - says , i to the midst a well regulated and - T self respecting society , much moved by enny ’ t t son s Idylls , and al oge her sympathetic with — the misfortunes o f the blameless King j ustly appreciative of the domestic affe ction so tenderly ’ portrayed by Coventry Patmore s Angel in the 1 1 B U A . C S W I N R N E — House appreciative also of Ata la nta in Ca ly don Mr . Swinburne charged impetuously with ” m B a lla ds of P oems his P oe s a nd . Some the a nd B a lla ds Fa ustine , including , had appeared four years earlier in the Spectator ; but the poems accumulated made a fresh and astonish ff ing e ect . The P oems a nd B a lla ds were interesting ff A ta la nta enough to o end many people . can hardly have been interesting , though it contains an interesting story which is probably revealed to the majority of readers by the argument A e o f alone . ltha a , Queen Calydon , gave birth to Meleager after dreaming that she had brought Th forth a burning brand . e Fates prophesied t t hat he should be s rong and fortunate , but should die as soon as the brand then in the fire Al ae were consumed . th a plucked out the brand t of t and ook care it . Meleager sailed away wi h Jason and became a great warrior . But in one o f W ff to A t his ars he gave o ence r emis , who therefore afflicted Calydon with a terrible wild boar . Only after all the chiefs of Greece had it the n t t warred against was boar slai , and ha the A A t by virgin talanta , because r emis loved . o f A her Meleager, enamoured talanta , gave o f the t the spoil boar to her , hus arousing the ’ o f T j ealousy his mother s two brethren . hese two Meleager slew because they attempted to 1 2 A T A L A N T A I N C A L Y D O N A so take away the spoil from talanta , which moved Althma to anger and sorrow that she t fire cast the brand at leng h back again into the , and it was consumed and Meleager died ; and his mother also endured not long after for very of sorrow ; and this was his end , and the end that t hun ing . This story is obliterated by the form of a Greek drama , by abundant lyrics put into of the mouth a Greek chorus , by Greek idioms of and cast speech , and by an exuberance and individuality of language which could not always transmit instantaneously a definite meaning . B ut not one of the obscurity is incompetence, the imperfectly intelligible speech is not an imperfection : at least it persuades and insinuates itself so into the mind that perhaps not many the of of pause at end the first sentence, part the ’ Chief Huntsman s address to Artemis : a and m t th e t a nd ta M iden , is ress of mon hs s rs th e flowe rle ss of a Now folded in fields he ven , all t t a t Goddess whom gods love wi h hreefold he r , i t t h t Be ng reble in y divided dei y, A t a a nd a a t ligh for de d men d rk hours, foo S t th e as a n d a a wif on hills morning, h nd To all things fierce a nd fleet that roar an d range ta t t a t t a or Mor l, wi h gen ler sh f s h n snow sleep ; He a r now and help a nd lift no violent h a nd But fa vourable and fa ir a s thin e eyes bea m Hidden and shown in hea ven ; for I a ll night ’ Amid the king s hounds and th e hunting men H a ve wrought a nd worsh ipped towa rd thee ; nor sh a ll man 1 3 B U A . C S W I N R N E See goodlier hounds or deadlier edge o f spe a rs ; But for th e e nd t a t a a t e t , h lies unre ched y t the a a nd on th e o f th e Be ween h nds knees Gods . The effect must always be partly that of a translation even to those who are familiar with Greek religion ; the words have a shade of the quality inseparable from a translation , whether t for it is or is not crea ive , it is to be found in the Authorized Version of the Bible ; the reader is a little confused and yet not unduly , when he hears of Artemis as a light for dead k - sun men and dar hours , of the fair faced that kills “ the stars and dews and dreams and de t of i sola ions the night , for it is not Engl sh thus to of ff collect four things four di erent classes , each requiring a distinct change in the meaning of P the verb which governs them all . erhaps “ the reader at first accepts hidden and shown , and even the alternative pairs , roar and range, “ ” or . snow sleep , favourable and fair, etc , as of part the foreignness . It does not decrease . It is not absent from : ' th e of a re on t t a When hounds spring win er s r ces, The mother of months in mea dow or pla in Fills th e sh adows and windy pl a ces With lisp of lea ves and ripple of ra in And th e brown bright nightinga le amorous a a a t Is h lf ssu ged for I ylus, the ra a a nd the a For Th ci n ships foreign f ces, The tongueless vigil a nd all th e pa in . 1 4 A T A L A N T A I N C A L Y D O N “ nl O y, here it is apparent that the shadows and windy places may be due to rhyme at least it seems a false limiting or defining of the action of of of on the lisp leaves and ripple rain , as later ” peril o f shallow and firth is a distinction with f d finit ne s f ff insu ficient e e s o di erence . But the metre is powerful enough to overcome this ffi or to k di culty , keep it from rising ; it ma es us feel that we may go astray if we ask why the nightingale is called bright as well as brown . Later on it may be suspected that bright ’ t of is due par ly to Swinburne s need alliteration , “ partly to his love of the i sound and of bright A t ness . nyone inclined o show and expect a stiff exactingness will be shocked at finding ” ” or summer and not spring , autumn , ” i winter , remembrance, w thout — fulness and so ou in the famous lyric Before th e beginning of yea rs There ca me to the making of man t a t of t a Time, wi h gif e rs ; Grief with a gla ss tha t ran a t a for a Ple sure, wi h p in le ven ; S t t at ummer, wi h flowers h fell ; a a a Remembr nce f llen from he ven, a And m dness risen from hell .

Load more