Ashley MS 4351

'Queen Iseult': an unfinished poem of six cantos by Algernon Charles Swinburne; 1857. Autograph fair copy, with revisions, often extensive, written on both sides of forty-seven quarto leaves of white laid paper, and on one side only of a further three leaves of the same (ff. 20, 36, 50). No watermark. Certain proper nouns in Canto I have been rewritten more clearly in the margin by Swinburne, suggesting that this MS. was used as printer's copy. The first Canto only was printed in Undergraduate Papers for 1 December 1857. In this MS. Canto I, ll. 67-69 are not found, ll. 115-117 follow ll. 118-120, and ll. 103-108 have been added at the end. Lines 1-42 of Canto IV are found written on ff. 35, 35b and 36, which follow the leaves bearing the rest of the Canto. They are evidently intended as an alternative to the uncancelled stanzas found on ff. 28-29b. The correct order of the stanzas in Canto V is not easy to determine. Most probably Swinburne never completely worked it out. It is clear that the stanzas on f. 38b are not intended to follow those on f. 38a, while those on f. 42a do not logically precede those on f. 42b. It does, however, appear that those on f. 38b are meant to follow those on f. 42a. In Canto VI, ll. 37-75 have been added at the end of the MS. on ff. 49a-50a, and separated from the rest by a line. Their intended position is suggested by the fact that an uncancelled stanza which stands first on f. 44a is presumably meant to be superseded by ll. 73-75. Lines 163-213 were added by Swinburne on ff. 47a-49a after he had completed ll. 214-219, and their position following l. 162 is indicated with a cross. Bound up with this MS. is a scrap of paper (f. iv) on which Swinburne has written a synopsis of the poem, showing that he intended that it should consist of ten cantos. The canto headings in the synopsis are identical with those found in the MS. Elsewhere among the Ashley MSS. are two drafts of lines which appear to have been intended for 'Queen Iseult', possibly to be spoken by a narrator in an introduction subsequently discarded. The first is Ashley MS. 4438, f. 7b, the remainder of which leaf is occupied by Swinburne's poem 'Two Knights rode on along the dark'. The second is Ashley A4441, ff. 59, 59b. The MS. is a bifolium, and on the third and fourth pages (ff. 60, 60b) is found an early version of Canto VI, ll. 85-87 and ll. 94-102. It does not appear that there was further material now lost between f. 59b and f. 60a since at the foot of f. 59b are the deleted words 'Tristram sleeps' while at the head of the third page are the deleted words 'Tristram fell as'. Ashley Library Catalogue, vi, pp. 40-41.

Quarto; ff. iv+50.

Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'Queen Iseult', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: 1857: Autogr. fair copy with revisions.