Swinburne and his gods : the roots and growth of an agnostic poetry / Margot K. Louis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Louis, Margot Kathleen, 1954-2007.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 1837-1909--Religion.

Swinburne, Algernon Charles.

Agnosticism in literature.

Religion in literature.

Gods in literature.

Physical Description:

242 p. ; 24 cm.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Buffalo : McGill-Queen's University Press, c1990.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Swinburne and His Gods is the first serious critical analysis to examine the poet's background in the high church in the context of his work. Louis clearly shows Swinburne's fierce and intimate hostility toward the church and reveals his particular irritation with the doctrines of Newman, Keble, and Trench. In her explanation of his poetic use of sacramental imagery, especially those images connected with the Last Supper, Louis shows how Swinburne's eucharists can be murderous or erotic, aesthetic or republican. The demonic parody that characterizes Swinburne's work is shown to have developed through experimentation with neo-romantic alternatives to Christianity: first through the evocation of a quasi-sadistic pessimism, then in the embodiment of the "sun-god of Art," and, finally, as a feeble gesture toward an unknowable deity which moves elusively both within and beyond the natural world. Rather than imposing artificial unity on the poet's career, Louis presents his work as an integrated series of serious and brilliant experiments in Romantic art.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Texts and Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Sacred Elements

Demonic Parody and the Great Whore

The Sacrament of Violence

The Sacrament of Harmony

The New Gods

Songs before Sunrise: Man and God Thou

Songs of the Springtides: The Sun-God and the Sea

Astrophel: The Unknowable God

Conclusion

Appendix: Myth and Allegory in William Blake

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-232) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-85141-1

9786612851414

0-7735-6214-1

OCLC:

929121211