Poems and Ballads (Third Series): Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles: Swinburne—Vol. III

by Algernon Charles Swinburne

Algernon Charles Swinburne was a talented English poet, playwright, and novelist. He wrote on many controversial topics such as cannibalism and anti-theism.

Genres: Poetry

62 pages, Paperback

Published January 27, 2016

About the author

In musical, often erotic verse, British poet and critic Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote and attacked the conventions of Victorian morality.

This controversial Englishman in his own day invented the roundel form and some novels and contributed to the famous eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algerno...

Reviews

[Richard Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d never read any Swinburne until I launched into his “scandalous” Poems and Ballads, but I found myself bewitched by his poetry. He does put “sound before sense,” making him hard to follow in many of his poems, but reading him silently is like listening to music. And as in music many words/notes come again and again: ocean, time, foam, moon, flowers, kisses, soul, fruit, death, love, tears, stars, sunlight, roses; all simple words but threaded into music.

More here:

https://richardswsmith.wordpress.com/...

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another delightful book of poems.

A word of warning. Quite a few in this selection are written in lowland Scots/Border area dialect. If you don't know the dialect you may have some difficulty understanding some of the poems.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't love every poem, and he does have a certain preoccupation with April, May, music and death. But when he turns a phrase right, MAN does he turn a phrase evocatively.