English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) is a figure of fascinating contrast. Diminutive in stature yet larger-than-life in personality, in uncertain health but also highly energetic, in the first half of his career he flouted Victorian social standards with the provocative subject matter of his poetry and his scandalous personal life. Yet in his later years he eschewed much of his former passionate excess and became socially respectable.