John Addington Symonds (1840–1893)
Author of The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti
About the Author
John Addington Symonds was born in Bristol on 5 October 1840. Symonds attended first a private tutor's in Clifton, then to Harrow, then to Balliol and later to Magdalen. In 1860 he took a first in " Mods," and won the Newdigate with a poem on The Escorial; in 1862 he was placed in the first class show more in Literae Humaniores, and in the following year was winner of the Chancellor's English Essay. In 1862 he had been elected to an open fellowship at Magdalen. The strain of study unfortunately proved too great for him, and, immediately after his election to a fellowship, his health broke down, and he was obliged to seek rest in Switzerland. Symonds was plagued by ill health, and he would die of tuberculosis at the age of 52. During his last term at Oxford, in 1863 his health collapsed altogether, partly due to stress caused by the spread of rumours that he was having a homosexual affair with one of the students. His academic career was at an end, and for three years he was unable to do any work. He thought he might study law, but in 1865 it was discovered that his left lung was diseased, and after a complete rest it was decided that he could never follow a profession, but would have to go to a warmer, climate and become a writer. He spent the rest of his years between Switzerland and Venice, Italy. For many years Symonds's energy was wasted by trying to suppress his homosexuality. Essentially he wished to make homosexuality acceptable, both to himself and to society by idealizing it in his works. It is for his studies in the history of art that Symonds has been most highly praised and remembered, as well as his Rennaissance work. John Addington Symonds died at Rome on April 8, 1893. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
John Addington Symonds [1840-1893] is not the same writer as John Symonds [1914-2006]. The former was a Victorian writer with a particular interest in sexual reform and emancipation for homosexuals. He wrote many books on Classical subjects, Renaissance Italy and C19th Romantic poets. The latter was a novelist, children's writer and executor of the estate of Aleister Crowley whom he also wrote many books on. These two important writers really do need their own individual entries.
Image credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, via glbtq.com
Series
Works by John Addington Symonds
A problem in Greek ethics being an inquiry into the phenomenon of sexual inversion, addressed especially to medical… (1901) 20 copies
The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti 12 copies
The Memoirs of John Addington Symonds: A Critical Edition (Genders and Sexualities in History) (2016) — Author — 8 copies
The Catholic Reaction, Part II 4 copies
Sketches in Italy and Greece 3 copies
John Addington Symonds: A Biography 3 copies
Walt Whitman 2 copies
Italian byways 2 copies
Rhaetica 1 copy
Renaissance in Italy Vol.II 1 copy
Miscellaneous Writings of John Conington, Late Corpus Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford, Volumes one and… (1872) — Editor — 1 copy
The chorister 1 copy
Old and new. Second series 1 copy
Lyra viginti chordarum 1 copy
Love and death : a symphony 1 copy
Crocuses and soldanellas 1 copy
Miguel Angel 1 copy
Genius amoris amari visio 1 copy
Associated Works
The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights (2001) — Contributor, some editions — 1,798 copies
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini [abridgement by Charles Hope and Alessandro Nova of the Symonds translation] (1728) — Translator, some editions — 31 copies
The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tommaso Campanella; Now for the First Time Translated into Rhymed English (2007) — Editor — 9 copies
The Bibelot, Volume IX: A Reprint of Poetry and Prose for Book Lovers, Chosen in Part from Scarce Editions and Sources… (1903) — Contributor — 4 copies
Ode to Boy: Vol. 2: An Anthology of Same-Sex Attraction in Literature from the 19th Century Through the First World War (2014) — Contributor — 2 copies
Miscellaneous Writings of John Conington. Vol. 2, The Poems of Virgil Translated into English Prose (2010) — Editor, some editions — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1840-10-05
- Date of death
- 1893-04-19
- Burial location
- Protestant Cemetery, Rome, Italy
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK (birth)
- Birthplace
- Bristol, England, UK
- Place of death
- Rome, Italy
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
Davos, Switzerland
Venice, Italy - Education
- Harrow
University of Oxford (Balliol College) - Occupations
- poet
literary critic
biographer
historian - Relationships
- Green, T. H. (Brother-in-law)
Symonds, Margaret (daughter)
West, Richard (great-grandson) - Disambiguation notice
- John Addington Symonds [1840-1893] is not the same writer as John Symonds [1914-2006]. The former was a Victorian writer with a particular interest in sexual reform and emancipation for homosexuals. He wrote many books on Classical subjects, Renaissance Italy and C19th Romantic poets. The latter was a novelist, children's writer and executor of the estate of Aleister Crowley whom he also wrote many books on. These two important writers really do need their own individual entries.
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- Works
- 100
- Also by
- 16
- Members
- 832
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- Rating
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- ISBNs
- 115
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