Large Fierce Mammal

Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (1872-1898); photographed at the approximate age of 23 by Frederick H. Evans. (Click to enlarge.)

The Valiant

A ballad

The valiant was a noble bark
         As ever ploughed the sea,
A noble crew she also had
         As ever there might be.

When once at night upon the deep
         The Valiant did sail,
Her captain saw a pirate ship
         By the moonlight dim and pale.

Then up he called his goodly crew
         And unto them thus spake:
“A musket and a cutlass sharp
         Each must directly take.

“For yonder see a pirate ship,
         Behold her flag so dark;
See now the gloomy vessel
         Makes straight for this our bark.”

Scarce had the Captain spoke those words
         Than a shot o’er his head did fly
From the deck of the pirate ship which now
         To the Valiant was hard by.

Approaching near, twelve desperate men
         On the Valiant’s deck did leap,
But some there were less brave and strong
         Who to their ship did keep.

And then a moment afterwards
         Did a bloody fray ensue,
And as the time sped onward
         Fiercer the fray it grew.

“Come on!” the Valiant’s captain cried,
         “Come on, my comrades brave,
And if we die we shall not sink
         Inglorious ’neath the wave.”

When the morning came, and the men arose,
         The pirates, where were they?
The ship had sunk and all its crew;
         Dead ’neath the sea they lay.

What you’ve just read was the first published literary work of Aubrey Vincent Beardsley whose artistic talents were silenced when he died of tuberculosis before reaching his 26th birthday. The poem was published within the covers of Past and Present, the magazine of the Brighton Grammar School, Vol. X, No.2, June 1885, but he’d written it the previous year when he was twelve, inspired by a popular childrens’ book, The Lives of All the Notorious Pirates. Only twelve and already inspired by blades, blood, and mayhem on the high seas. Ah, what levels our modern times and their so widely held and meagre efforts at child rearing have sunk to.

You can further expose yourself to the literary works of young Mr. Beardsley by consulting In Black and White, The Literary Remains of Aubrey Beardsley; and I highly recommend that you do so.

To my mind, however, all pales in comparison to Beardsley’s expressions in the realm of visual art.

His drawings in black ink, influenced by the style of Japanese woodcuts, emphasized the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the Aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James A. McNeill Whistler. Beardsley’s contribution to the development of the Art Nouveau and poster styles was significant, despite the brevity of his career before his early death from tuberculosis. ~ See complete article here.

That being said, let me bring today’s Dark Sentiment to fruition.

Aubrey Beardsley was not at home in the Victorian society in which he lived. These images poke fun at that society and its values. He did make people think. Although most of his drawings were for books or magazines seen by few people, his erotic and haunting drawings have been well known for more than a hundred years. ~ Aubrey Beardsley – The Victorian Parodies

Clicking whatever captures your interest in what follows will enlarge it, although as you will see, some won’t need much help. There is one among them that I’ve come to call “A Visit From the Bum Puff Fairy”. Just for fun, see if you can guess which one it is.

Athenians in Distress

Lacedomonian Ambassadors

Bathyllus

Cinesias Soliciting Myrrhina

Juvenal Scourging a Woman

Toilet of Lampito

Lysistrata Haranguing the Athenian Women

Lysistrata Defending the Acropolis

Examination of the Herald