Lionel Johnson

Lionel Pigot Johnson ( born March 15, 1867 in Broadstairs, † October 4, 1902 ) was an English poet, author and critic. He was born in Broadstairs, Winchester College and New College attended Oxford, where he graduated in 1890. In 1891 he converted to Roman Catholicism. He lived a relatively solitary life in London and died after a fall ( supposedly from a bar stool ) of a heart attack.

During his lifetime, he published his work The Art of Thomas Hardy ( 1894), Poems (1895 ) and Ireland and Other Poems ( 1897). He was also a member of Rhymers ' Club.

Johnson wrote many poems about homosexuality. 1892, after his conversion to Catholicism, and after an argument with his friend Oscar Wilde, Johnson created a sonnet called The Destroyer of a Soul ( The Destroyer of a Soul ), (meaning probably the soul of his cousin, Lord Alfred Douglas, whom he last had made known in June with Wilde). The following year, Johnson wrote the work, which is considered by many to be his masterpiece, the poem The Dark Angel, in which he discussed his homosexuality.