Fees 
II—ON THE APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF 
feinin Lv kIC TRAGEDY IN’ THE CLASSICAL 
DRAMAS OF SWINBURNE 
BY OLIVIA POUND 
The Atalanta in Calydon and the Erechtheus of Algernon 
Charles Swinburne represent signally successful attempts to re- 
produce Greek lyric tragedy.1 The two plays follow the rigid 
type of the classical drama, and to many have seemed more like 
inspired translations than imitations; although it is in structure 
or form, rather than in their spirit or the view of the world which 
they present, that their antique inspiration reveals itself. Swin- 
burne was so steeped in classical learning that he seemed to be 
able to place himself back in the time of the Greek dramatists 
and to express his ideas in their way. The ideas themselves are 
often modern; but in giving to his theme dramatic form he ex- 
perienced again, as it were, the sensations of the classic poet. 
When all is said, he is much more than a mere imitator. Save 
for the romantic and lavish character of his expression and for 
his occasional sophisticated modernism of mood, he may well 
seem the reincarnation of some ancient Greek. 
It has seemed of interest and value to try to apply to the two 
1 Atalanta in Calydon (1864). Erechtheus (1876). The citations in this 
paper are from the collected edition of 1904, Vol. IV. 
For critical discussion of Swinburne’s work, see especially T. Wratis- 
law, Swinburne (English Writers of Today series, 1900); G. E. Wood- 
berry, Swinburne (1905); Edward Thomas, A. C. Swinburne: A Critical 
Study (1912); also W. R. Nicoll, “ Algernon Charles Swinburne” in The 
Contemporary Review, May, 1900; J. R. Lowell, “ Swinburne’s Tragedies,” 
in My Study Windows; W. Francke, A. C. Swinburne als Dramatiker 
(1900), and others. For the most part these discussions give incidental 
treatment of Swinburne’s individual plays, and are written wholly from 
the aesthetic point of view. 
The citations from the Greek dramas of Sophocles, Euripides, and 
Aeschylus are from the Teubner (Leipsic) texts of these dramas. 
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