Dowson, Ernest. (1867 - 1900).
L i f e
- led an active social life: met university students, attended music halls, etc.
- fell in love with a 12 year old girl, courted her for two years x but: failed
> the girl appears as a symbol of love and innocence in some of his verse
- after both of his parents's suicide rapidly declined in health and died soon
W o r k
- associated with the Aesthetes and the Rhymers’ Club (1890 – 1904)
- an unpaid reviewer for a critical magazine
- a frequent contributor to The Yellow Book (1894 – 1897)
- published two collections of poems, a one-act verse play, several short stories, and two novels in collaboration
Verses (1896) and Decorations in Verse and Prose (1899):
- collections of poetry
“Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae sub Regno Cynarae” (1896):
- the title: ‘I am no more the man I was in the reign of the Good Cynara’
- an exquisite poem with a Latin title x but: written in English
- autobiographical: a lover tries to put aside his feelings for a former lover
A Comedy of Masks (1893):
- a novel in collaboration with Arthur Moore
Dilemmas: Stories and Studies in Sentiment (1895):
- a collection of short stories
Quote
"But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, / Yea, all the time, because the dance was long: / I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion."
From "Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae sub Regno Cynarae" (1896).
Basics
(Picture: Wikimedia Commons).
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Author
Ernest Christopher Dowson. (1867 - 1900). British. -
Work
Poet. Short story writer. Novelist. -
Genres
Decadence and Aestheticism in 1890s. Rhymer's Club.
Literature
Abrams, Meyer Howard, ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993.
Barnard, Robert. Stručné dějiny anglické literatury. Praha: Brána, 1997.
Baugh, Albert C. ed. A Literary History of England. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967.
Coote, Stephen. The Penguin Short History of English Literature. London: Penguin, 1993.
Sampson, George. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1946.
Sanders, Andrew. The Short Oxford History of English Literature. New York: Clarendon Press, 1994.