Person    | Male  Born 5/4/1837  Died 10/4/1909

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Categories: Poetry

Born 7 Chester Street, Chelsea. Poet associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. He invented the poetic form called ‘roundel’. Was a good friend of Dante Rossetti, who called him his ’little Northumbrian friend’ as Swinburne had adopted Northumberland as his native county and was just over five feet tall.

Staying with his homosexual lover, George Powell, at Entretat (near Dieppe) Swinburne had a near-death experience swimming off the beach when he was swept out to sea. His rescue by a fishing vessel was witnessed (possibly assisted) by Guy de Maupassant who thus got to know Swinburne and Powell. He described his visits to their cottage on a number of occasions and the abode does seem very bizarre: on display were piles of bones and a flayed hand (the fingers of which Powell kept sucking), supposedly of a patricide. A large pet monkey was noisily present. After lunch pornographic German photographs were brought out for the boastfully heterosexual Maupassant's enjoyment. Afterwards he wrote: "If genius is a kind of delirium of the higher intelligence then Swinburne is assuredly a genius". The genius died at 11 Putney Hill.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Algernon Charles Swinburne

Commemorated ati

Rose and Crown, Wimbledon

The Rose and Crown - one of Wimbledon's oldest public houses, dating from the...

Read More

Rossetti & Swinburne

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828 - 1882, and Algernon Charles Swinburne, 1837 - 1...

Read More

Swinburne & Watts-Dunton

L.C.C. Algernon Charles Swinburne, (1837-1909), -poet-, and his friend, Theod...

Read More

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Algernon Charles Swinburne

Creations i

Rossetti fountain

Unveiled by William Holman Hunt. There must have been a committee to erect th...

Read More

Other Subjects

Sir Henry Taylor

Sir Henry Taylor

Born Bishop Middleham, County Durham. Poet, playwright and public servant. He went to sea as a young man, but after finding it did not agree with his health, took up a position in the Treasury. H...

Person, Poetry, Politics & Administration, Race Issues, Theatre

1 memorial
Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti

Poet in the Pre-Raphaelite style.  Sister to Dante; family details are given there. Born at 38 Charlotte Street.  Engaged three times but never married; at least two of them were rejected due to 'r...

Person, Poetry, Seriously Famous

1 memorial
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Born and died in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birth date is usually given as the 23rd, the same date as his death, but all that is actually known is that he was baptised 3 days later, on the 26th. Even...

Person, Poetry, Seriously Famous, Theatre

45 memorials
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Poet and Jesuit priest. Born 87 The Grove, Stratford, of Welsh ancestry. 1852 the family moved to Hampstead and GMH attended Highgate School where he flourished. At Oxford University he converted ...

Person, Poetry, Religion, Ireland

4 memorials
Andrew Motion

Andrew Motion

Poet Laureate. Born London.

Person, Poetry

2 memorials