User:Jacquiemcvarish/sandbox

“Proserpine” brings up various questions commonly accompanying the Victorian Crisis of Faith of the Victorian Era involving what happens after death. The Victorian Crisis of Faith was the response to new scientific evidence that contradicted the long-accepted claims of the Church of England. It resulted in a growing sense of secularity and a sense of vulnerability by the people. The question of what happens after death was one of the church’s biggest defenses to this growing secularity, as faith guaranteed immortality after death.(1) Swinburne once announced that his poetic theory “insists upon the uninhibited exploration of all issues and experiences relevant to comprehensively prophetic treatment of the human condition.”(3) An example of this applied poetic theory is The Garden of Proserpine, as it works to challenge Christianity by displaying a godless afterlife, tormented only by the blind will to live. It is a lyric that expresses feelings validated by his pessimistic philosophy. (1) Proserpine is the goddess of eternal death, which by nature overpowers the other gods. However, she is not actively powerful considering she represents nothingness herself. The Garden of Proserpine represents a sense of harmony, calm, and oblivion that only truly exists in this realm of nothingness. It is said to symbolize “the brief total pause of passion and thought after tempestuous pleasures when the spirit, without fear or hope of good things or evil, hungers and thirsts only after the perfect sleep.” This poem celebrates the finality of death and the nothingness that lies beyond Persephone’s welcoming arms, making a stark contrast to the beliefs of leading religions during this time.