#Oscar wilde gay pioneer skin

This is another reason Swinburne was not well liked by many of his peers. Scott helped Swinburne recover from excessive alcohol while they were together, travelling to the French Riviera and throughout Italy, but Swinburne struggled with alcoholism most of his life. His grandfather died shortly after he left Balliol, and he stayed with his friend William Bell Scott in Newcastle. In part, this was due to a brief suspension in 1859 after publicly supporting an assassination attempt against Napoleon III. Some years later, he briefly attended Balliol College but ultimately left without a degree. He attended Eton College for some time, but poor health caused him to leave without finishing. But I believe it to be just.”ĭespite his poor health and small stature, he was fearless and driven, perhaps to the point of recklessness. It is but a child's impression of a child. Altogether my recollection of him in those school days is that of a fascinating, most loveable little fellow. All who knew him must remember that exquisitely soft voice with a rather sing-song intonation His language, even at that age, was beautiful, fanciful and richly varied.

Another characteristic which Algernon inherited from his mother was the voice. His face was the very replica of that of his dear mother, and she was one of the most refined and lovely of women.

#Oscar wilde gay pioneer skin

His skin was very white - not unhealthy but a transparent tinted white, such as one sees in the petals of some roses. His features were small and beautiful, chiselled as daintily as those of some Greek sculptor's masterpiece. Red, violent, aggressive red it was,, unpoetical carrots. At that time there was nothing golden about it. Hero-worshippers talk of his hair as having been a 'golden aureole'. His limbs were small and delicate and his sloping shoulders looked far too weak to carry his great head, the size of which was by the tousled mass of red hair standing almost at right angles to it. “What a fragile little creature he seemed as he stood there between his father and mother, with his wondering eyes fixed upon me! Under his arm he hugged Bowdler's Shakespeare, a very precious treasure, bound in brown leather, with, for a marker, a narrow slip of ribbon, blue I think, with a button of that most heathenish marqueterie called Tunbridge ware dangling from the end of it. His cousin, Lord Redesdale, recalled a moment from their childhoods as such: He was a nervous, frail child, likely related to the fact that he was epileptic.

He was the first of six children born to a wealthy Northumbrian family. Oscar Wilde called Swinburne “a braggart in matters of vice, who had done everything he could to convince his fellow citizens of his homosexuality and bestiality without being in the slightest degree a homosexual or a bestialiser.” While it’s true, Swinburne often encouraged and even started rumours about himself, sometimes to draw attention and other times for humour, his sexuality was anything but.Īlgernon Charles Swinburne was born in London in the spring of 1837. Algernon Charles Swinburne was not one to hide who he was, nor was he quiet about his beliefs. However, it is those queer people who abandon respectability who provoke change. They draw contempt from inside and outside of the community. There is a demand for queer people to be respectable, please the dominant society, conform, and hide that which is seen as other. All I can say of you or them-is that God made you, and that you are very wonderful and beautiful.” - John Ruskin in a letter to Swinburne I should as soon think of finding fault with you as with a thundercloud or a nightshade blossom. “For the matter of it-I consent to much-I regret much-I blame or reject nothing.