Poems and Ballads, First Series is the first collection of poems by Algernon Charles Swinburne, published in 1866. The book was instantly popular, and equally controversial. Swinburne wrote about many taboo topics, such as lesbianism, sado-masochism, and anti-theism. The poems have many common elements, such as the Ocean, Time, and Death. Several historical persons are mentioned in the poems, such as Sappho, Anactoria, Jesus and Catullus.
Time and Tide, Alfred Thompson Bricher, c. 1873 The sea and time are common motifs in Swinburne's poetry.
Laus Veneris, c.1875, by Edward Burne-Jones
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as Poems and Ballads, and contributed to the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.
Swinburne aged 52
Algernon Charles Swinburne, 1862, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
NPG P416. Swinburne with nine of his peers at Oxford, ca. 1850s (Left to right: 1. Joseph Frank Payne, standing; 2. George Rankine Luke, sitting; 3. John Warneford Hoole, standing; 4. Algernon Charles Swinburne, sitting; 5. Thomas Hill Green, standing; 6. John Nichol, sitting; 7. James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce, standing; 8. Albert Venn Dicey, sitting; 9. Aeneas James George Mackay, standing; 10. Thomas Erskine Holland, sitting)
Swinburne's grave at St. Boniface Church, Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, pictured in 2013
