Algernon Swinburne was a self-destructive drunkard and had some decidedly odd, perverse interests. He had noble forebears, was educated at Eton and Oxford (and nearly expelled from the latter), and spent time traveling in France and Italy. Much of his life was spent living with the drug-addicted artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti on Cheyne Walk in Chelsea before being forced to retire an invalid with the poet Theodore Watts-Dunton.

阿尔杰农·斯文本是个自毁的酒鬼，他有着一些极其奇怪又堕落的爱好。他的父辈们地位尊贵，他本人也曾就读伊顿公学和牛津大学（差点被开除），遍游法国和意大利。被迫与诗人西奥多·瓦·道顿一起隐退之前，他大部分时间是和吸毒成瘾的艺术家但丁·加百列·罗塞蒂在切尔西市度过。

He was only 160 centimeters (5 ft) tall, suffered fits and tremors, lived on the edge of his nerves, and drank to excess, often until unconsciousness. His work is associated with decadence and regarded these days as overwritten, full of lush alliteration and internal rhymes. Swinburne specialized in exploring and glorifying themes that were shocking to Victorian tastes, some of which seem a little extreme even today. He had a particular taste for flagellation and liked to boast about indulging in bestiality and pederasty. His novel Lesbia Brandon was unpublished until the 1950s, and his 1868 collection Poems and Ballads contained work praising paganism, lesbianism, bisexuality, sadomasochism, cannibalism, and hermaphroditism so graphic that his publisher withdrew it from print.

他只有160厘米（5英尺）高。时而正常，时而疯魔，终日生活在精神崩溃的边缘。他常常还喝得大醉不醒。他的作品多以颓废为主题，而且他批判那个年代人们过多使用头韵和内韵。斯文本专注于探索和宣扬那些在维多利亚时期骇人听闻的主题，有些如今看来都有些极端。他有着独特的重口味，喜欢鞭打虐待，宣扬兽交和鸡奸。他的小说《女同志布兰登》直到20世纪50年代才发表。他1868年的诗歌民谣集因为含有宣扬异教，女同性恋，双性恋，施虐受虐狂，自相残杀，两性畸形等内容遭到了出版商的拒绝。

French writer Guy de Maupassant met Swinburne in 1868 while he was living in Normandy. The first time they had lunch together, Swinburne showed Maupassant his extensive collection of illegal pornography, served monkey for lunch, and showed where his other pet monkey slept with Swinburne's lover. During the meal, Swinburne played with a flayed human hand. When Maupassant returned a few days later, he found Swinburne's lover shooting at a black man in the garden, while the pet monkey had been hanged from a tree. At lunch, he was fed liquor so strong he was nearly knocked out. He made his excuses and fled.

1868年，法国作家莫泊桑在诺曼底见到了斯文本。他们第一次共进午餐时，斯文本便向莫泊桑展示了他收集的大量非法色情文学书刊，还做了猴子给他吃并且告诉他其他的宠物猴子在哪里和他的情人睡过觉。席间，斯文本还一直玩弄一个剥了皮的人手。几天后，当莫泊桑再回来的时候，他看见斯文本的情人正在打一个黑人，而猴子已经吊死在了树上。午餐时，他被灌了太多酒几乎要不省人事，于是他找了个借口赶紧逃走了。