“Hymn to Proserpine ” is a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne , published in Poems and Ballads goddess Proserpina , the Roman equivalent of Persephone , but laments the rise of Christianity for displacing the pagan goddess and her pantheon.[ 1]
The epigraph at the beginning of the poem is the phrase Vicisti, Galilaee , Latin for "You have conquered, O Galilean ", the supposed dying words of the Emperor Julian .[ 2] Christianity by the Roman Empire . The poem is cast in the form of a lament by a person professing the paganism of classical antiquity and lamenting its passing, and expresses regret at the rise of Christianity .[ 3]
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 Ford Madox Ford 's The Good Soldier
See also
References
^ Louis, Margot Kathleen (Spring 2005), "Gods and Mysteries: The Revival of Paganism and the Remaking of Mythography through the Nineteenth Century", Victorian Studies , 47 (3): 329–361, doi :10.1353/vic.2005.0100 ^ Theodoret of Cyrrus, Ecclesiastical History , retrieved 17 October 2022 ^ Eron, Sarah (2003). Myth, Pattern, and Paradox in Swinburne's "Hymn to Proserpine" . Retrieved 9 October 2013 .
External links
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