Swinburne, Algernon Charles. "The Garden of Proserpine".
Summary
- the presumably dead speaker describes the bleak and barren garden of Proserpine around him
- observes we are all to die and retire neither to heaven nor to hell but to the sleepy garden of Proserpine
- describes the queen of Proserpine and her activities
- contrasts the permanent but colourless garden x the always changing but colourful mortal life
- conclusion: retires to "the sleep eternal / In an eternal night"
Analysis
- Proserpine = the queen of the underworld, goddess of death and eternal sleep, kept a garden of ever-blooming flowers
- melodic: regular rhyme, alliteration, repetition
- lyric: no plot, turning point, or solution
- even monotonous: suggests the unchanging permanence of the setting
Basics
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Author
Swinburne, Algernon Charles. (1837 - 1909). -
Full Title
"The Garden of Proserpine". -
First Published
In: Poems and Ballads. London: Hotten, 1866. -
Form
Poem.
Works Cited
Swinburne, Algernon Charles. "The Garden of Proserpine". Poems and Ballads. (1866). London: Chatto and Windus, 1899.