Thomas Thackeray Swinburne

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Not to be confused with Algernon Charles Swinburne.

Thomas Thackeray Swinburne

Thomas Thackeray Swinburne (April 21, 1865 – December 17, 1926) was an American poet from Rochester, New York. He has been called "Rochester's poet laureate"[1] He wrote a number of books of verse which he printed himself; one of these—By the Genesee: Rhymes and Verses—contains a version of the poem which, set to music by Herve D. Wilkins, has become the alma mater of the University of Rochester[2] – The Genesee.[3]

Swinburne attended the University of Rochester as a member of the class of 1892, but never graduated.[4] He was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity.[5]

One critic compared Swinburne and Rochester in Song and Verse to Edgar Lee Masters and his Spoon River Anthology.[6]

In December 1926, distraught over the death of his sister Rose, to whom he had dedicated By the Genesee and Rochester in Song and Verse, he committed suicide by jumping from a bridge into the Genesee River.[4][7] A body was found in June 1927 at Forest Lawn, on the shore of Lake Ontario in Webster, New York was identified as Swinburne's by his clothing,[8] however, later some doubt was cast on the identification.[9]

"Swinburne Rock" - memorial to Thomas Thackeray Swinburne

The University of Rochester and the Rochester community honored Swinburne with a memorial, Swinburne Rock, placed "beside the Genesee" near the university's Interfaith Chapel. The memorial, proposed in 1927 and dedicated in 1933, is a 26-ton glacial boulder holding a bronze plaque with verses from The Genesee sculpted by Alphonse A. Kolb.[6][10][11] According to local legend Swinburne's ashes were interred under the rock, but when it was moved in 1968 no remains were found.[12] News reports, however, indicate that the poet's ashes were scattered on the Genesee River in July, following his death.[13]

Books

  • By the Genesee: Rhymes and Verses (1900)
  • St. Peter's Chimes & Bells of St. Peter (1902)
  • Rochester Rhymes (1907)
  • The Steingod: A Tale of Halloween (1908)
  • Sonnets of Sonnenberg (1911)
  • Rochester in Song and Verse, with Other Rhymes (1924)
  • The Cosmies: A Little Science for Little People
  • Cascónchiagón (one sheet, illustrated by Thomas Davies)

References

  1. ^ Shilling, Donovan. "An Ode to the Genesee". Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  2. ^ "Symbols at Rochester". University of Rochester. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  3. ^ Swinburne, Thomas T. (1900). By the Genesee: Rhymes and Verses.
  4. ^ a b Slater, John R. "Tom Swinburne, Poet-Philosopher of the Genesee". Rochester Review. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  5. ^ University of Rochester (1911). General Catalogue of the University of Rochester, 1850-1911.
  6. ^ a b "College Friends Will Dedicate Memorial to Thomas T. Swinburne" (PDF). Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. December 17, 1927. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  7. ^ "Poet of Genesee suicides". Reading (PA) Eagle. December 19, 1926. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  8. ^ "Laundry Marks on Collar Prove Body Found in Lake Swinburne's". Democrat and Chronicle. June 5, 1927. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  9. ^ "Teeth Prove Body found in Lake Ontario not Swinburne's". Democrat and Chronicle. June 4, 1927. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  10. ^ University of Rochester. "The Swinburne Rock". Landmarks. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  11. ^ "Thomas Thackeray Swinburne". Rochester's Hope. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  12. ^ Pieterse, Janice Bullard (2014). Our Work is But Begun: A History of the University of Rochester, 1850-2005. Boydell & Brewer. p. 208. ISBN 9781580465038. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  13. ^ "Ashes of Swinburne will be scattered on the Genesee at Service". Democrat and Chronicle. June 8, 1927. Retrieved November 16, 2019.

External links


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