Pain- Without Which, Life Would be Unsupportable...
In Greek mythology, Proserpine is the daughter of Ceres and the wife of Pluto.
She is thus the goddess of Hades (that is, the kingdom of the dead), and her Garden lies on the border of Hades.
Swinburne uses the myth to express a mood.
In The Garden of Proserpine the Garden becomes a symbol of death and extinction.
The poem expresses feelings of lassitude and satiety to make the inevitability of death something to be accepted and even desired.
Not death itself, but rather the death-wish, is the theme of the poem.
Proserpine is seen as the goddess, not of death alone, but of all terminations, of all the 'minor deaths' - of day, of love, of the seasons - which make life painful, yet without which life would be unsupportable.
It is, paradoxically, 'too much love of living' that has produced this hymn in honour of death.
Swinburne's theme derives much of its power from the use of other parts of the myth.
For example, he contrasts the barren death-dealing Proserpine with the Proserpine whose periodical return to earth signifies the rebirth of Spring.
Proserpine is thus represented as a 'belle dame sans merci', menacing, even abhorrent, yet seductive and irresistible.
The poem begins by establishing the contrast between the stillness of the Garden and the busy world of man; moves on to a description of the Garden itself, of Proserpine, and of her power over the world; and ends with an expression of relief at the ultimate cessation of all things.
The motifs and images are repeated, and the poem's success depends upon these repetitions.
Swinburne uses the resources of language - musical, imaginative, emotive - to evoke a mood.
The soporific, even hypnotic, effect of the repetitions perfectly matches the mood.
There are, for instance, the repeated images of flowers, leaves, fruit and corn which characterize both man's life on earth and the Garden itself.
The repetitions make for contrast: the fields of earth are green and growing, whereas Proserpine's fields are 'fruitless' with 'no growth of moor or coppice'.
But the repetitions also make for parallels: if Proserpine's buds and leaves are 'bloomless', earth too produces 'bloom buds of barren flowers'.
Repetition is also used for its sound-effect in such devices as anaphora, assonance and, above all, alliteration.
In the last three stanzas, sound and sense combine to convey an exact impression of the impermanence of things which makes life ultimately as barren as death.
She is thus the goddess of Hades (that is, the kingdom of the dead), and her Garden lies on the border of Hades.
Swinburne uses the myth to express a mood.
In The Garden of Proserpine the Garden becomes a symbol of death and extinction.
The poem expresses feelings of lassitude and satiety to make the inevitability of death something to be accepted and even desired.
Not death itself, but rather the death-wish, is the theme of the poem.
Proserpine is seen as the goddess, not of death alone, but of all terminations, of all the 'minor deaths' - of day, of love, of the seasons - which make life painful, yet without which life would be unsupportable.
It is, paradoxically, 'too much love of living' that has produced this hymn in honour of death.
Swinburne's theme derives much of its power from the use of other parts of the myth.
For example, he contrasts the barren death-dealing Proserpine with the Proserpine whose periodical return to earth signifies the rebirth of Spring.
Proserpine is thus represented as a 'belle dame sans merci', menacing, even abhorrent, yet seductive and irresistible.
The poem begins by establishing the contrast between the stillness of the Garden and the busy world of man; moves on to a description of the Garden itself, of Proserpine, and of her power over the world; and ends with an expression of relief at the ultimate cessation of all things.
The motifs and images are repeated, and the poem's success depends upon these repetitions.
Swinburne uses the resources of language - musical, imaginative, emotive - to evoke a mood.
The soporific, even hypnotic, effect of the repetitions perfectly matches the mood.
There are, for instance, the repeated images of flowers, leaves, fruit and corn which characterize both man's life on earth and the Garden itself.
The repetitions make for contrast: the fields of earth are green and growing, whereas Proserpine's fields are 'fruitless' with 'no growth of moor or coppice'.
But the repetitions also make for parallels: if Proserpine's buds and leaves are 'bloomless', earth too produces 'bloom buds of barren flowers'.
Repetition is also used for its sound-effect in such devices as anaphora, assonance and, above all, alliteration.
In the last three stanzas, sound and sense combine to convey an exact impression of the impermanence of things which makes life ultimately as barren as death.
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