Ashley MS 1908

Parodies by A. C. Swinburne of the poetry of Robert Browning. Autograph drafts and fair copies. Ashley Library Catalogue, vi, pp. 154-155. As follows:―

1. 'Seriera', a parody of 'Wanting is―What?', the first poem in Jocoseria, 1883; [1883?].

a. Draft, heavily revised, written on one side only of an octavo leaf of cream laid paper. No watermark. The MS. is entitled 'Jocoseria'. The final text found in the draft is identical with that found in (b). f. 1a.

b. Fair copy, written on one side only of an octavo leaf of white laid paper. Watermark 'St Mar[ ] / Supe[ ]'. The MS. is entitled 'Seriera'. f. 2a.

2. 'John Jones's Wife', a parody of 'James Lee's Wife', the first poem in Dramatis Personae, 1864; [1900?]. Draft of part III, stanzas X and XI, as printed in Poems, 1904, written on one side only of an octavo leaf of white laid paper. Watermark '[ ] & Sons / [ ]fine'. When 'John Jones's Wife' was first published, as 'John Jones', in The Heptalogia, 1880, part III consisted of twenty-four stanzas. On reprinting the poems of The Heptalogia in the collected Poems, 1904, Swinburne made various revisions among which was the addition of the present stanzas X-XII to part III of 'John Jones's Wife', giving it twenty-seven stanzas. The text found in the draft differs from that printed on pp. 381-382 of Poems, 1904, vol. v, by three words. The verso of the MS. contains a fragment of a letter from John Churton Collins to Swinburne, in which he says that he hopes to see the latter's 'Atalanta or Erechtheus where the Agamemnon has been'. Collins was friendly with Swinburne from 1875 to 1886, when the friendship ended, but it was renewed in 1900. Collins died in 1908. There was a performance of the Agamemnon of Aeschylus at Cambridge in November 1900. The only other indication as to the date of this MS. is a letter from Swinburne to Georgiana Burne-Jones, 7 Dec. 1899 (C. Y. Lang, Swinburne Letters, vi, 1962, pp. 144-145) in which he asks to borrow 'the copy of my little book "The Heptalogia", with a quantity of MS. additions on the margins which I once sent to Ned. It is to be reprinted, and I have lost a copy in which I had transcribed these additions.' The volume was returned on 6 Feb. 1900.

Octavo; ff. i+3.

Robert Browning, poet: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Parodies by Algernon Charles Swinburne of poems by Browning: [1883?], [1900?].

includes:

• f. 1 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'Seriera', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1883?]: Autogr. draft.
• f. 2 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'Seriera', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1883?]: Autogr. fair copy.
• f. 3 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'John Jones's Wife' part III, stanzas x and xi, by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1900?]: Autogr. draft.
• f. 3b John Churton Collins, literary critic: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Letter to Algernon Charles Swinburne from John Churton Collins: [1900?]: Fragm.