Phædra was the wife of Theseus, the King of Athens, but she developed a passion for her step-son Hippolytus. His rejection of her declaration of love leads to tragedy and death.
The Poems read here are from Swinburne's Poems and Ballads (First series) published in 1866. The poems were popular on publication but also controversial as Swinburne wrote about topics which were considered taboo at the time such as Lesbianism (or Sapphism), Sado-masochism and Anti-theism. Many of the poems have the common themes of love and death and there are several references to the Greek poet Sappho whose work Swinburne admired. - Summary by Alan Mapstone
