Oscar Wilde, born Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde in 1854, is celebrated not only for his novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray‘ but also for his plays and his pivotal role in the aesthetic movement.
In 1881, he published ‘Poems,’ his first collection, and by the following year, Wilde had embarked on an extensive lecture tour across America, where he further established himself as a leading figure of the aesthetic movement.
‘The Grave of Keats’ by Oscar Wilde describes the physical state of Keats’ grave and the emotional impact that his short life had on England.
Rid of the world’s injustice, and his pain,
He rests at last beneath God’s veil of blue:
Taken from life when life and love were new
The youngest of the martyrs here is lain,
In Wilde’s contemplative verse, the speaker addresses Liberty directly, revealing a complex relationship with the concept—both critical and intimately connected, a force that has historically driven humanity to rise against tyranny.
Not that I love thy children, whose dull eyes
See nothing save their own unlovely woe,
Whose minds know nothing, nothing care to know,—
But that the roar of thy Democracies,
‘Her Voice’ by Oscar Wilde is told by a speaker who is having to accept the end of a relationship she once vowed to uphold for eternity.
The wild bee reels from bough to bough
With his furry coat and his gauzy wing.
Now in a lily-cup, and now
Setting a jacinth bell a-swing,
‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ is a scathing critique of the penal system and an exploration of complex human emotions.
He did not wear his scarlet coat,
For blood and wine are red,
And blood and wine were on his hands
When they found him with the dead,
‘Requiescat’, by Oscar Wilde, is a mournful poem that describes the sorrow felt over the passing and burial of a young woman.
Tread lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.
In this poem, Wilde decries the auction of Keats’ intimate letters as a profane act of greed.
These are the letters which Endymion wrote
To one he loved in secret, and apart.
And now the brawlers of the auction mart
Bargain and bid for each poor blotted note,
‘The Garden of Eros’ describes a metaphorical garden that plays host to various flowers and the memories of some of the greatest English poets.
It is full summer now, the heart of June;
Not yet the sunburnt reapers are astir
Upon the upland meadow where too soon
Rich autumn time, the season's usurer,
This poem articulates a speaker’s fervent declarations of sacrifice for a beloved, revered as angelic and celestial.
Is it thy will that I should wax and wane,
Barter my cloth of gold for hodden grey,
And at thy pleasure weave that web of pain
Whose brightest threads are each a wasted day?
This poem by Wilde reflects on an encounter with the spirits of Greek playwrights Æschylos, Sophokles, and Euripides, highlighting Euripides’ distinct lack of public honors.
Two crownèd Kings, and One that stood alone
With no green weight of laurels round his head,
But with sad eyes as one uncomforted,
And wearied with man's never-ceasing moan
‘Magdalen Walks’ by Oscar Wilde describes the coming of spring and the vibrant, continually moving elements which herald its arrival.
The little white clouds are racing over the sky,
And the fields are strewn with the gold of the flower of March,
The daffodil breaks under foot, and the tasselled larch
Sways and swings as the thrush goes hurrying by.
‘On Easter Day’ by Oscar Wilde asks readers to consider how Christian teachings align with the modern-day Pope. It’s about the importance of not putting man-made desires and institutions ahead of God.
The silver trumpets rang across the Dome:
The people knelt upon the ground with awe:
And borne upon the necks of men I saw,
Like some great God, the Holy Lord of Rome.
‘Ravenna’ by Oscar Wilde is the poet’s recollection of a trip to the culturally and historically important Italian city of Ravenna.
A year ago I breathed the Italian air,
And yet, methinks this northern Spring is fair,
These fields made golden with the flower of March,
The throstle singing on the feathered larch,
‘Madonna Mia’ by Oscar Wilde is a beautiful and interesting poem. In it, the speaker describes a “lily-girl.”
A lily-girl, not made for this world’s pain,
With brown, soft hair close braided by her ears,
And longing eyes half veiled by slumberous tears
Like bluest water seen through mists of rain:
‘My Voice’ reflects on love’s end, blending ballad and ode elements to explore themes of loss, longing, and the passage of time.
Within the restless, hurried, modern world
We took our hearts’ full pleasure—You and I,
And now the white sails of our ships are furled,
‘On the Massacre of the Christians in Bulgaria’ is a sonnet that questions the divinity of God after a massacre of Christians in Batak, Bulgaria.
Christ, dost Thou live indeed? or are Thy bones
Still straitened in their rock-hewn sepulchre?
And was Thy Rising only dreamed by her
Whose love of Thee for all her sin atones?
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