When, refreshed as a bride and set free,
With stars and sea-winds in her raiment,
Night sinks on the sea.
Swinburne (Dedication, 1865).
It is hardly possible for a younger generation to realize the almost intoxicating effect produced upon us by Swinburne’s new melodies. Although the Poems and Ballads were largely erotic, the curious fact is that we were too much carried away by the beauty and swing of his verse to trouble about the sensual element in it. That element was in itself an artificial production and not a reflection of the poet’s own emotions, for he was free from sensuality. It was with us more a question of music. Swinburne himself preferred a musical word or line to one that would more aptly express his meaning; and in the “Dedication,” from which the above verses are quoted, several lines will not bear analysis. However, this was one of our favourites among his poems.
O daughters of dreams and of stories
That life is not wearied of yet,
Faustine, Fragoletta, Dolores,
Félise and Yolande and Juliette,
Shall I find you not still, shall I miss you,