Poetry Codex

Victorian

Algernon Charles Swinburne

1837–1909

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) was an English poet notorious in his own day for the sensuous, metrically dazzling, and often scandalous verse of Poems and Ballads.

An ardent republican, he also wrote fervent political verse cheering Italian unification and liberty, alongside a huge later output of odes, elegies, and sonnets.

Major Works (1)

  1. Tristram of Lyonesse — Narrative poem, 1882

Poems (813)

  1. I.
  2. II
  3. III
  4. IV
  5. V.
  6. VI
  7. VII
  8. Hope and Fear
  9. After Sunset
  10. III
  11. A Study from Memory
  12. To William Bell Scott
  13. A Death on Easter Day
  14. On the Deaths of Thomas Carlyle and George Eliot
  15. A Last Look
  16. Dickens
  17. Dysthanatos
  18. Euonymos
  19. Bismarck at Canossa
  20. II
  21. The Channel Tunnel
  22. Christopher Marlowe
  23. William Shakespeare
  24. Ben Jonson
  25. Beaumont and Fletcher
  26. Philip Massinger
  27. John Ford
  28. John Webster
  29. Thomas Decker
  30. Thomas Middleton
  31. Thomas Heywood
  32. George Chapman
  33. John Marston
  34. John Day
  35. James Shirley
  36. The Tribe of Benjamin
  37. "arden of Feversham"
  38. Anonymous Plays
  39. I
  40. Epilogue
  41. A Cap with Seven Bells
  42. I
  43. VIII
  44. XI
  45. XIII
  46. XIV
  47. XV
  48. XVI
  49. XVII
  50. XVIII
  51. XIX
  52. XX
  53. XXI
  54. XXII
  55. XXIII
  56. XXIV
  57. XXV
  58. XXVI
  59. XXVII
  60. X
  61. XII
  62. II
  63. III
  64. IV
  65. V
  66. VI
  67. VII
  68. IX
  69. The Poet and the Woodlouse
  70. The Kid
  71. Sonnet for a Picture
  72. Nephelidia
  73. To Edward John Trelawny
  74. Thalassius
  75. Sappho
  76. The Garden of Cymodoce
  77. Birthday Ode
  78. Feb. 25, 1880
  79. A Midsummer Holiday:--
  80. The Seaboard
  81. A Haven
  82. On a Country Road
  83. A Sea-mark
  84. The Cliffside Path
  85. In the Water
  86. The Sunbows
  87. On the Verge
  88. I.
  89. II
  90. IV
  91. V.
  92. VI
  93. VII
  94. VIII
  95. IX
  96. X.
  97. XI
  98. XII
  99. XIII
  100. XIV
  101. XV
  102. XVI
  103. XVII
  104. XVIII
  105. XIX
  106. XX
  107. XXI
  108. XXII
  109. XXIII
  110. XXIV
  111. XXV
  112. Lines on the Monument of Giuseppe Mazzini
  113. Les Casquets
  114. A Ballad of Sark
  115. After a Reading
  116. Maytime in Midwinter
  117. A Double Ballad of August
  118. To Isabel Swinburne
  119. A Ballad of Appeal
  120. The Conservative Journalist's Anthem
  121. In Sepulcretis
  122. III
  123. On the Death of Richard Doyle
  124. A Solitude
  125. Clear the Way!
  126. A Word for the Country
  127. A Dark Month
  128. I
  129. II
  130. III
  131. IV
  132. V
  133. VI
  134. VII
  135. VIII
  136. IX
  137. X
  138. XI
  139. XII
  140. XIII
  141. XIV
  142. XV
  143. XVI
  144. XVII
  145. XVIII
  146. XIX
  147. XX
  148. XXI
  149. XXII
  150. XXIII
  151. XXIV
  152. XXV
  153. XXVI
  154. XXVII
  155. XXVIII
  156. XXIX
  157. XXX
  158. XXXI
  159. Via Dolorosa 230
  160. Astrophel
  161. I
  162. II
  163. III
  164. A Nympholept
  165. To Theodore Watts
  166. V
  167. VI
  168. VII
  169. IV
  170. Loch Torridon
  171. Inscribed to My Mother
  172. January
  173. February
  174. March
  175. April
  176. May
  177. June
  178. July
  179. August
  180. September
  181. October
  182. November
  183. December
  184. Eton: an Ode
  185. East to West
  186. On the Death of Richard Burton
  187. Elegy
  188. New Year's Eve, 1889
  189. In Memory of Theodore De Banville
  190. Au Tombeau De Banville
  191. To Philip Bourke Marston
  192. Threnody
  193. A Dirge
  194. A Reminiscence
  195. Via Dolorosa
  196. Transfiguration
  197. Deliverance
  198. Thanksgiving
  199. Libitina Verticordia
  200. The Order of Release
  201. Psychagogos
  202. The Last Word
  203. In Memory of Aurelio Saffi
  204. The Festival of Beatrice
  205. Life in Death
  206. Epicede
  207. Memorial Verses on the Death of William Bell Scott
  208. An Old Saying
  209. A Moss-rose
  210. Hawthorn Dyke
  211. The Brothers
  212. Jacobite Song
  213. The Ballad of Dead Men's Bay
  214. IV
  215. V
  216. VI
  217. VII
  218. X
  219. XI
  220. XII
  221. XIII
  222. XIV
  223. XV
  224. XVI
  225. XVII
  226. XVIII
  227. XIX
  228. XX
  229. XXI
  230. XXII
  231. XXIII
  232. XXIV
  233. XXV
  234. XXVI
  235. XXVII
  236. XXVIII
  237. XXIX
  238. XXX
  239. XXXI
  240. XXXII
  241. XXXIII
  242. XXXIV
  243. XXXV
  244. XXXVI
  245. XXXVII
  246. XXXVIII
  247. XXXIX
  248. XL
  249. XLI
  250. XLII
  251. XLIII
  252. XLIV
  253. XLV
  254. XLVI
  255. XLVII
  256. XLVIII
  257. XLIX
  258. L
  259. III
  260. I
  261. II
  262. To a Seamew
  263. Pan
  264. A New Year's Message
  265. A Ballad of Bath
  266. In a Garden
  267. A Rhyme
  268. Baby-bird
  269. VIII
  270. IX
  271. Neap-tide
  272. By the Wayside
  273. From the Italian of Giovanni Strozzi
  274. From the Italian of Michelangelo Buonarroti
  275. In Time of Mourning
  276. The Recall
  277. By Twilight
  278. A Baby's Epitaph
  279. On the Death of Sir Henry Taylor
  280. In Memory of John William Inchbold
  281. New Year's Day
  282. (on His Translation of "the Arabian Nights")
  283. Nell Gwyn
  284. Caliban on Ariel
  285. The Weary Wedding
  286. The Winds
  287. A Lyke-wake Song
  288. A Reiver's Neck-verse
  289. The Witch-mother
  290. The Bride's Tragedy
  291. A Jacobite's Farewell
  292. A Jacobite's Exile
  293. The Tyneside Widow
  294. Swinburne's Poetical Works
  295. The Statue of Victor Hugo
  296. Euthanatos
  297. First and Last
  298. Lines on the Death of Edward John Trelawny
  299. I
  300. II
  301. III
  302. IV
  303. V
  304. VI
  305. VII
  306. Herse
  307. Twins
  308. Postscript
  309. The Salt of the Earth
  310. VIII
  311. Comparisons
  312. What is Death?
  313. A Child's Pity
  314. A Child's Laughter
  315. A Child's Thanks
  316. A Child's Battles
  317. A Child's Future
  318. Sunrise
  319. A Channel Passage
  320. The Lake of Gaube
  321. The Promise of the Hawthorn
  322. The Passing of the Hawthorn
  323. To a Baby Kinswoman
  324. The Altar of Righteousness
  325. I
  326. III
  327. IV
  328. V
  329. Christina Rossetti Died December 29, 1894
  330. In a Rosary
  331. Barking Hall, July 19th, 1896
  332. Barking Hall: a Year After
  333. August 1898
  334. Trafalgar Day
  335. Cromwell's Statue
  336. VI
  337. VII
  338. VIII
  339. IX
  340. X
  341. XI
  342. XII
  343. Northumberland
  344. June 27, 1901
  345. Burns: an Ode
  346. A Song for Unionists
  347. The Question
  348. Apostasy
  349. II
  350. For Greece and Crete
  351. A New Century
  352. Written on the News of the Death of Lord Leighton
  353. On the Eightieth Anniversary of His Birth, February 23, 1897
  354. In Memory of Aurelio Saffi
  355. Carnot
  356. After the Verdict
  357. The Transvaal
  358. Reverse
  359. The Turning of the Tide
  360. On the Death of Colonel Benson
  361. Astraea Victrix
  362. From the French of Villon
  363. A Roundel of Rabelais
  364. Lucifer
  365. Three Weeks Old
  366. Prologue to Doctor Faustus
  367. Prologue to Arden of Feversham
  368. Prologue to Old Fortunatus
  369. Prologue to the Duchess of Malfy
  370. Prologue to the Revenger's Tragedy
  371. Prologue to the Broken Heart
  372. Prologue to a Very Woman
  373. Prologue to the Spanish Gipsy
  374. Prologue to the Two Noble Kinsmen
  375. The Afterglow of Shakespeare
  376. Cleopatra
  377. XIII
  378. XIV
  379. XV
  380. XVI
  381. XVII
  382. XVIII
  383. XIX
  384. XX
  385. I
  386. II
  387. III
  388. IV
  389. V
  390. VI
  391. VII
  392. Four Songs of Four Seasons:--
  393. Ballad of the Lords of Old Time 140
  394. To
  395. (a.d. 361)
  396. XIX
  397. XX
  398. XXI
  399. XXII
  400. XXIII
  401. XXIV
  402. XXV
  403. XXVI
  404. XXVII
  405. XXVIII
  406. XXIX
  407. XXX
  408. XXXI
  409. XXXII
  410. XXXIII
  411. XXXIV
  412. XXXV
  413. XXXVI
  414. XXXVII
  415. XXXVIII
  416. XXXIX
  417. XL
  418. A Forsaken Garden
  419. Relics
  420. At a Month's End
  421. Sestina
  422. The Year of the Rose
  423. Decameron, x. 7
  424. In Memory of Charles Baudelaire
  425. VIII
  426. IX
  427. X
  428. XI
  429. XII
  430. XIII
  431. XIV
  432. XV
  433. XVII
  434. XVIII
  435. On the Death of Theophile Gautier
  436. Sonnet
  437. Epicede
  438. To Victor Hugo
  439. Inferiae
  440. A Birth-song
  441. Ex-voto
  442. A Ballad of Dreamland
  443. Cyril Tourneur
  444. Prince of All Ballad-makers
  445. Envoi
  446. Pastiche
  447. Before Sunset
  448. Song
  449. III
  450. IV
  451. V
  452. VI
  453. VII
  454. Choriambics
  455. At Parting
  456. Two Leaders
  457. I
  458. II
  459. Victor Hugo in 1877
  460. Child's Song
  461. XVI
  462. Rizpah
  463. To Louis Kossuth
  464. A Double Ballad of Good Counsel
  465. Fragment on Death
  466. (after the Former Argument)
  467. Ballad of the Women of Paris
  468. Ballad Written for a Bridegroom
  469. Ballad Against the Enemies of France
  470. The Dispute of the Heart and Body of Francois Villon
  471. Epistle in Form of a Ballad to His Friends
  472. The Epitaph in Form of a Ballad
  473. From Victor Hugo
  474. Nocturne
  475. Theophile Gautier
  476. (le Tombeau De Theophile Gautier)
  477. In Obitum Theophili Poetae
  478. Ad Catullum
  479. Poems and Ballads
  480. A Ballad of Life
  481. A Ballad of Death
  482. Laus Veneris
  483. Chorus
  484. Hippolytus
  485. Phaedra
  486. The Triumph of Time
  487. Les Noyades
  488. A Leave-taking
  489. Itylus
  490. Anactoria
  491. Ilicet
  492. IV
  493. Fragoletta
  494. Rondel
  495. Satia Te Sanguine
  496. A Litany
  497. First Antiphone
  498. Second Antiphone
  499. Third Antiphone
  500. Fourth Antiphone
  501. Fifth Antiphone
  502. Sixth Antiphone
  503. Seventh Antiphone
  504. Eighth Antiphone
  505. Ninth Antiphone
  506. Tenth Antiphone
  507. I
  508. II
  509. III
  510. Anima Anceps
  511. (provencal Burden)
  512. A Match
  513. A Cameo
  514. (from the French)
  515. Rococo
  516. Stage Love
  517. The Leper
  518. A Ballad of Burdens
  519. L'envoy
  520. Erotion
  521. In Memory of Walter Savage Landor
  522. A Song in Time of Order. 1852
  523. A Song in Time of Revolution. 1860
  524. To Victor Hugo
  525. Before Dawn
  526. (notre-dame Des Sept Douleurs)
  527. The Garden of Proserpine
  528. Love at Sea
  529. From the French of the Vidame De Chartres
  530. Before Parting
  531. The Sundew
  532. Felise
  533. An Interlude
  534. Hendecasyllabics
  535. Sapphics
  536. At Eleusis
  537. August
  538. A Christmas Carol
  539. Tertius Miles
  540. Queen Bersabe
  541. Primus Miles
  542. Secundus Miles
  543. Herodias
  544. Cleopatra
  545. Abihail
  546. Azubah
  547. Aholah
  548. Ahinoam
  549. Atarah
  550. Semiramis
  551. Hesione
  552. Chrysothemis
  553. Thomyris
  554. Harhas
  555. Myrrha
  556. Pasiphae
  557. Sappho
  558. Messalina
  559. Amestris
  560. Ephrath
  561. Pasithea
  562. Alaciel
  563. Erigone
  564. King David
  565. Nathan
  566. (from Boccaccio)
  567. Aholibah
  568. Love and Sleep
  569. Madonna Mia
  570. The King's Daughter
  571. After Death
  572. (breton)
  573. (finnish)
  574. The Sea-swallows
  575. The Year of Love
  576. Chorus
  577. Hertha
  578. Before a Crucifix
  579. Tenebræ
  580. The Pilgrims
  581. II
  582. Quia Multum Amavit
  583. Genesis
  584. To Walt Whitman in America
  585. In Church
  586. Outside Church
  587. Beyond Church
  588. I
  589. Mater Triumphalis
  590. A Marching Song
  591. Siena
  592. Cor Cordium
  593. In San Lorenzo
  594. The Song of the Standard
  595. On the Downs
  596. Messidor
  597. Str. 1
  598. Str. 2
  599. Str. 3
  600. Str. 4
  601. Str. 5
  602. Ant. 1
  603. Ant. 2
  604. Ant. 3
  605. Ant. 4
  606. Ant. 5
  607. Epode
  608. “non Dolet”
  609. To Victor Hugo
  610. III
  611. IV
  612. V
  613. VI
  614. VII
  615. VIII
  616. IX
  617. X
  618. XI
  619. XII
  620. Perinde Ac Cadaver
  621. Monotones
  622. The Oblation
  623. A Year’s Burden
  624. Epilogue
  625. Dedication: To Christina G. Rossetti
  626. In Harbour
  627. The Way of the Wind
  628. ‘Had I Wist’
  629. Recollections
  630. Time and Life
  631. A Dialogue
  632. Plus Ultra
  633. A Dead Friend
  634. Past Days
  635. Autumn and Winter
  636. The Death of Richard Wagner
  637. Lohengrin
  638. Tristan und Isolde
  639. The Lute and the Lyre
  640. Plus Intra
  641. Change
  642. A Baby’s Death
  643. One of Twain
  644. Death and Birth
  645. Birth and Death
  646. Benediction
  647. Étude Réaliste
  648. Babyhood
  649. First Footsteps
  650. A Ninth Birthday
  651. Not a Child
  652. To Dora Dorian
  653. The Roundel
  654. At Sea
  655. Wasted Love
  656. Before Sunset (A Century of Roundels)
  657. A Singing Lesson
  658. Love Lies Bleeding
  659. Love in a Mist
  660. Ventimiglia
  661. Genoa
  662. Venice
  663. Eros
  664. Sorrow
  665. Sleep
  666. On an Old Roundel
  667. A Landscape by Courbet
  668. A Flower-piece by Fantin
  669. A Night-piece by Millet
  670. ‘Marzo Pazzo’
  671. Dead Love
  672. Discord
  673. Concord
  674. Mourning
  675. Aperotos Eros
  676. To Catullus
  677. ‘Insularum Ocelle’
  678. In Sark
  679. In Guernsey
  680. Envoi (A Century of Roundels)
  681. Rondel (Kissing her hair I sat against her feet)
  682. Chorus from 'Atalanta in Calydon'
  683. Hymn to Proserpine
  684. Before the Mirror
  685. Super Flumina Babylonis
  686. After Looking into Carlyle's Reminiscences
  687. Anonymous Plays (II)
  688. Athens: an Ode
  689. Dedication (Tristram of Lyonesse and Other Poems)
  690. Eight Years Old
  691. On Lamb's Specimens of Dramatic Poets
  692. Quia Nominor Leo
  693. Seven Years Old
  694. Sir William Gomm
  695. The Many (II)
  696. To John Nichol
  697. To Dr. John Brown
  698. On the Russian Persecution of the Jews
  699. On the Death of Mrs. Lynn Linton
  700. Spring in Tuscany
  701. Summer in Auvergne
  702. Autumn in Cornwall
  703. St. Dorothy
  704. Dedication
  705. Prelude
  706. The Eve of Revolution
  707. A Watch in the Night
  708. The Halt before Rome
  709. Mentana: First Anniversary
  710. Blessed among Women
  711. The Litany of Nations
  712. Hymn of Man
  713. Mater Dolorosa
  714. Tiresias
  715. An Appeal: I
  716. An Appeal: II
  717. I saw the double-featured statue stand
  718. A Song of Italy
  719. Ode on the Proclamation of the French Republic
  720. Dirae: A Dead King
  721. Dirae: A Year After
  722. Dirae: Peter’s Pence from Perugia
  723. Dirae: Papal Allocution
  724. Dirae: The Burden of Austria
  725. Dirae: Locusta
  726. Dirae: Celaeno
  727. Dirae: A Choice
  728. Dirae: The Augurs
  729. Dirae: A Counsel
  730. Dirae: The Moderates
  731. Dirae: Intercession
  732. Dirae: The Saviour of Society
  733. Dirae: Mentana: Second Anniversary
  734. Dirae: Mentana: Third Anniversary
  735. Dirae: The Descent into Hell
  736. Dirae: Apologia
  737. The Mill Garden
  738. A New-Year Ode (III)
  739. Nine Years Old
  740. Cradle Songs
  741. Pelagius
  742. Louis Blanc
  743. Vos Deos Laudamus
  744. On the Bicentenary of Corneille
  745. In Sepulcretis (I–II)
  746. In Sepulcretis (IV)
  747. Love and Scorn
  748. Victor Hugo: L'Archipel de la Manche
  749. The Twilight of the Lords
  750. A Word for the Nation
  751. A Word from the Psalmist
  752. A Ballad at Parting
  753. An Autumn Vision (I–IV)
  754. A Swimmer's Dream (I–III)
  755. A Swimmer's Dream (V)
  756. Grace Darling
  757. England: an Ode
  758. Eton: an Ode
  759. The Union
  760. Inscriptions for the Four Sides of a Pedestal
  761. A Sequence of Sonnets on the Death of Robert Browning
  762. Birthday Ode (1891)
  763. Threnody (1892)
  764. The Monument of Giordano Bruno
  765. To a Cat
  766. Dedication (Astrophel and Other Poems)
  767. Hawthorn Tide
  768. The Altar of Righteousness (II)
  769. The Altar of Righteousness (VI–VII)
  770. Music: an Ode
  771. A Word for the Navy (I–V)
  772. Apostasy
  773. Russia: an Ode (I)
  774. Russia: an Ode (III)
  775. Done Into English
  776. The First of June
  777. The Centenary of Alexandre Dumas
  778. At a Dog's Grave
  779. A Clasp of Hands
  780. Cleopatra (I–XII)
  781. Dedication (A Channel Passage and Other Poems)
  782. In the Bay (I–XVIII)
  783. A Wasted Vigil
  784. For the Feast of Giordano Bruno
  785. Ave Atque Vale (I–VII)
  786. Ave Atque Vale (XVI)
  787. Age and Song
  788. In Memory of Barry Cornwall
  789. A Vision of Spring in Winter (I–II)
  790. A Song in Season
  791. Triads
  792. Winter in Northumberland
  793. The White Czar
  794. The Complaint of the Fair Armouress
  795. Dedication (Poems and Ballads, Second Series)
  796. March: an Ode (I–III)
  797. The Commonweal (I–IX)
  798. The Armada (Part I)
  799. The Armada (Part II)
  800. The Armada (Part III)
  801. The Armada (Part IV)
  802. The Armada (Part V)
  803. The Armada (Part VI) (I–II)
  804. Pan and Thalassius
  805. Olive (I–VII)
  806. A Word with the Wind
  807. The Interpreters
  808. Dedication (Poems and Ballads, Third Series)
  809. Hermaphroditus (I–III)
  810. Faustine
  811. Hesperia
  812. Dedication (Poems and Ballads, First Series)
  813. A Lyric

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