In the first comprehensive survey of the Persephone myth in English and American literature of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Margot Louis explores the rapid evolution of the goddess from decorative metaphor to the embodiment of a new spirituality. Louis traces Persephone's progress from her origin in ancient myth through poetry and prose of the Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist periods, uncovering how deeply the study of ancient spirituality is entwined with controversies about gender, values, and religion.
In this richly detailed study, Margot Louis combines close readings of Swinburne's poetry with a wide-ranging analysis of the pressures which influenced the poet. Louis not only examines the ways in which Swinburne was affected by English and French Romantics but comments on the powerful impact on his writing of a childhood steeped in high church theology. Swinburne's ideas of alternative concepts of deity are discussed within the context of nineteenth-century radical "free thought." Louis reflects on the depth and diversity of Swinburne's intellectual interests and their effect on the development of his poetic style.
In the first comprehensive survey of the Persephone myth in English and American literature of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Margot Louis explores the rapid evolution of the goddess from decorative metaphor to the embodiment of a new spirituality. Louis traces Persephone's progress from her origin in ancient myth through poetry and prose of the Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist periods, uncovering how deeply the study of ancient spirituality is entwined with controversies about gender, values, and religion.
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