Lionel Johnson
Lionel Pigot Johnson (15 March 1867– 4 October 1902) was an English poet, essayist and critic.
Lionel Pigot Johnson (15 March 1867– 4 October 1902) was an English poet, essayist and critic.
Life
Johnson was born at Broadstairs, and educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, graduating in 1890. He became a Catholic convert in 1891. He lived a solitary life in London, struggling with alcoholism and his repressed homosexuality. He died of a stroke after a fall in the street, though it was said to be a fall from a barstool in the Green Dragon in Fleet Street.
During his lifetime were published his The Art of Thomas Hardy (1894), Poems (1895), Ireland and Other Poems (1897). He was one of the Rhymers’ Club, and cousin to Olivia Shakespear (who dedicated her novel The False Laurel to him).
In June 1891, Johnson converted to Catholicism, at the same time as he introduced his cousin Lord Alfred Douglas to his friend Oscar Wilde, whom he then repudiated, directing a sonnet at him called “The Destroyer of a Soul” (1892). In 1893, Johnson wrote what some consider his masterpiece, “The Dark Angel”.
“The Dark Angel” also served as one of the influences for the Dark Angels chapter of Space Marines in the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe. Their Primarch, Lion El’Jonson, is also named after the poet.
References
Wikipedia—https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Johnson
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haunting adorner minstrel epitaph fight name tempter escape helped second wherein eternally uncomforted defeats despairs dread change drifting dust eternity shalt triumph lone divinity hold wood loads behold august hark defence breathe wafting nocturnal feel mark splendours patriarch chaldean wastes found reverence height always passion unshamed win release ours scents shame solitary griefs passions tremulous beliefs agonized hopes ashen sometimes spaces fear sigh drear players plaintive strings publish wistfulness abroad spoken save freedom regret farewell remembrance sorrows tell weathered cloister worn gray clustering spires fresh loveliness resort lingering kindled latest wondrous touched rise works goodliest next wykeham obtain spendid zeal inigo wren coign antique street taken root stone raleigh franciscan johnson flinch endured shelley white platonic classic landor throve roman addison pursued quiet themes smiled erasmus colet taught lived athenian recall rome purple least forget hamanities assault harm together walked willing gardens plenteous trees bowering soft lawn whither arnold june meadows troubling withdrawn chapels cedarn empurpled panes either hand cool pavements carved legends grave haunts understand unknown going forth rose above cheered serene sky secure stand hat hers hesperian wonderful immemorial forefathers care sung ill times rude cry ears chime bells springtide queen splendour radcliffe dome fares olivier georges destrée moor drives blows ruinous church door poor procession without goes died curlew laid people lightly wails loud gales sombre plains gently else clings saddest crowned discrowned comely hard whitehall glides crowds rebels brawl courtiers stations star strange brows although whole tragedy stern austerity vanquished made amends defeated ends brief hapless nay grew sublime speak sentence yea armoured head bare beholding london wearier faints employ tried loving sleeps heavenly deeps imageries reveal black armour falling lace altar morn gentleness plato page knights sacred rage sake borne vanished conceits forlorn hope heritage cavern ruined shrine glorious organs pour drifts broken tower tolls piteous answer saddened souls mourn
