Songs before Sunrise: Swinburne and Plato about the Poets' "Republic" [Cantece dinaintea Rasaritului: Swinburne si Platon despre „republica” poetilor]

Setting out from the virtual conflict between imagination and ideology in Algernon Charles Swinburne’s work, our essay proposes to inquire the ideological issues in one of his most politically-contaminated collection of poems, Songs before Sunrise. Generally considered a drawback of his artistic career, this volume has been analyzed to the present in relation with its direct message, i.e. the poet’s commitment to the Italian Risorgimento, which develops, to the best of poetical ability, into a lax prodding for political liberation. However, our assumption is that, while he was praising Giuseppe Mazzini and the Italian Republic (1866-1871), the English poet also worked and changed opinions with Benjamin Jowett about the disputable points from Plato’s translation. Apparently, Jowett’s work as a translator and Swinburne’s Songs… can stand not only a verbatim comparison, but also an ideological association. Altogether, the “sunrise” metaphor from Swinburne’s title and many other turns of expression associate to the broad theme of knowledge (inspired by Plato’s Republic and Symposium), and lesser to a poetry that relies exclusively on verbal ornament and talent’s dexterity.