Poems and Ballads
Poems and Ballads, First Series is the first collection of poems by Algernon Charles Swinburne, published in 1866. The book was instantly popular, and equally controversial. Swinburne wrote about many taboo topics, such as lesbianism, sado-masochism, and anti-theism. The poems have many common elements, such as the Ocean, Time, and Death. Several historical persons are mentioned in the poems, such as Sappho, Anactoria, Jesus ("Galilaee", La. "Galilean") and Catullus. Second and Third Series. In 1878 Swinburne published a collection of poems titled "Poems and Ballads, Second Series", which is less political, and also shows the  influence of French literature. It includes verses to Baudelaire, Gautier, Villon, Hugo, and Théodore de Banville. It also contains his translations of Villon. In 1889, Swinburne published a collection of poems titled "Poems and Ballads, Third Series", which contains "To a Seamew", "Pan and Thalassius", "Neap-Tide", elegies for Sir Henry Taylor and John William Inchbold, and border ballads, that were written for an unfinished novel, "Lesbia Brandon".