Books by Algernon Charles Swinburne

Originally published in 1927, this book contains a selection of Swinburne's poetry for the general reader. The text was created with the aim of 'representing the variable and inconsistent quality of Swinburne's genius'. An editorial introduction is also included, together with explanatory notes.

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) is, with Browning and Tennyson, one of the touchstone Victorian poets. He was a major critic and an important fiction writer as well.

This volume brings together Swinburne's major poetic works, ATALANTA IN CALYDON (1865) and POEMS AND BALLADS (1866). ATALANTA IN CALYDON is a drama in classical Greek form, which revealed Swinburne's metrical skills and brought him celebrity. POEMS AND BALLADS brought him notoriety and demonstrates his preoccupation with de Sade, masochism, and femmes fatales. Also reproduced here is 'Notes on Poems and Reviews', a pamphlet Swinburne published in 1866 in response to hostile reviews of POEMS AND BALLADS.