“No Roses, White nor Red, Glow Here”: The Motif of the Garden in Two Proserpine Poems by A. Swinburne and D. Greenwell

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this article, I discuss Algernon Swinburne’s and Dora Greenwell’s engagement with the myth of Proserpine through an analysis of the motif of the garden, which takes central stage in both accounts. The examination will illustrate how the authors’ outlined images of the garden challenge the dominant representation of the motif within Western literary tradition, offering a re-interpretation of the myth as social commentary.