Lionel Johnson

Lionel Pigot Johnson (15 March 1867 - 4 October 1902) was an English poet, essayist and literary critic.

Life
He was born at Broadstairs, and educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, graduating in 1890. He became a Catholic convert in 1891. He lived a solitary life in London, struggling with alcoholism and his repressed homosexuality. He died of a stroke after a fall in the street, though it was said to be a fall from a barstool.

He was one of the Rhymer's Club, and cousin to Olivia Shakespear.

In 1892, Johnson converted to Catholicism. He repudiated former friend Oscar Wilde and directed a sonnet at him called "The Destroyer of a Soul" (presumably the soul of his cousin Lord Alfred Douglas, whom he had introduced to Wilde the previous June). In the following year, Johnson wrote what some consider his masterpiece, "The Dark Angel".

Recognition
"The Dark Angel" also served as one of the influences for the Dark Angels chapter of Space Marines in the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe. Their Primarch, Lion El'Jonson, is also named after the poet.

Poetry

 * Poems. London: Elkin Matthews, 1895. Boston: Copeland and Day, 1895.
 * Ireland, with other poems. London: Elkin Matthews, 1897.
 * Twenty one poems written by Lionel Johnson, selected by William Butler Yeats. Dun Emer Press, 1904.
 * The Poetical Works of Lionel Johnson. London: Elkin Matthews, 1915. New York: Macmillan, 1915.

Prose

 * The Art of Thomas Hardy. London: Matthews and Lane, 1894. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1894.
 * Post Liminium. Essays and Critical Papers (edited by Thomas Whittemore). London: Elkin Mathews, 1911.
 * New York: M. Kennerley, 1912.
 * reprinted, 1968.
 * The collected poems of Lionel Johnson (edited by Ian Fletcher). London: Unicorn Press,1953.
 * reprinted, 1982.