- Hymn to Proserpine
"Hymn to Proserpine" is a
poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne, published in1866 . The poem is addressed to thegoddess Proserpina , the Roman equivalent ofPersephone .The poem opens with the words "Vicisti, Galilæe",
Latin for "You have conquered, O Galilean," the apocryphal of the Emperor Julian. He had tried to reverse the official endorsement ofChristianity by theRoman Empire . The poem is cast in the form of alament by a person professing thepaganism ofclassical antiquity and lamenting its passing, and expresses regret at the rise ofChristianity . Lines 35 and 36 express this best::"Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from thy breath;":"We have drunken of things
Lethe an, and fed on the fullness of death."The line "Time and the Gods are at strife" inspired the title of
Lord Dunsany 's "Time and the Gods".The poem is quoted by Sue Bridehead in
Thomas Hardy 's 1895 novel, "Jude the Obscure " and also by Edward Ashburnham inFord Madox Ford 's "The Good Soldier ".External links
* [http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/2088.html Full text]
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