Complete Poetry

by Oscar Wilde, Isobel Murray (Editor)

This volume of Wilde's powerful poetry follows as closely as possible the chronological order of composition, highlighting autobiographical elements including the young Wilde's conflicting attitudes to Greece and Rome, pagan and Christian, and his fluctuating attraction to Roman Catholicism. The Appendix shows Wilde's original ordering, constructed with great care around a "musical" arrangement of themes. The poems reveal unexpected aspects of a literary chameleon usually identified with sparkling wit and social comedy.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction, Dark Academia, 19th Century

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 1997

About the author

Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.

Reviews

[Sean Barrs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oscar Wilde is a fantastic playwright. His stage pieces are sharp, witty and dangerous. The Importance of Being Earnest is one of my favourite plays: it’s Wilde at his absolute best.

His poetry, on the hand, is drivel. Let us rewind a little, Wilde wrote most of these before he established his literary genius, so long before he became a renowned cynic full of sarcasm and social commentary; thus, it has no personality, no flare or fire: it is simply lifeless.

Most of it is passionless verse that is inconsistent and doesn’t really come together to create a strong poetical voice. The Romantics and the Modernists had a purpose in their art; Wilde has no purpose here as he jumps from topic to topic and poem to poem. Again, this is to be expected considering he had not found his purpose for writing at this point, though it is still rather dull to read. The Ballad of Reading Goal is the exception but it stands aside from the other poems and is clearly a more developed work.

I would only recommend this to a reader who is interested in tracking the man’s literary development rather than one who is on the hunt for poetry that is engaging, emotionally stimulating and intelligent. I do wonder what an older, more critical, Wilde though to these. Food for thought.

[E. G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chronology
Note on the Text

--Chorus of Cloud-Maidens
--From Spring Days to Winter
--Requiescat
--San Miniato
--By the Arno
--Rome Unvisited
--La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente
--Chanson
--The Dole of the King's Daughter
--Αἴλινον, αἴλινον εἰπέ, τὸ δ’ εὖ νικάτω
--The True Knowledge
--Θρηνωδια
--Lotus Leaves
--A Fragment from the Agamemnon of Aeschylos
--A Vision
--Sonnet on Approaching Italy
--Sonnet Written in Holy Week at Genoa
--Impression de Voyage
--The Theatre at Argos
--Urbs Sacra Æterna
--The Grave of Keats
--Sonnet on the Massacre of the Christians in Bulgaria
--Easter Day
--Sonnet on Hearing the Dies Iræ Sung in the Sistine Chapel
--Italia
--Vita Nuova
--E Tenebris
--Quantum Mutata
--To Milton
--Ave Maria Plena Gratia
--Wasted Days
--The Grave of Shelley
--Santa Decca
--Theoretikos
--Amor Intellectualis
--At Verona
--Ravenna
--Magdalen Walks
--The Burden of Itys
--Theocritus: A Villanelle
--Endymion
--Charmides
--Ballade de Marguerite
--Humanitad
--Athanasia
--The New Helen
--Panthea
--Phèdre
--Queen Henrietta Maria
--Louis Napoleon
--Madonna Mia
--Roses and Rue
--Portia
--Apologia
--Quia Multum Amavi
--Silentium Amoris
--Her Voice
--My Voice
--Γλυκοπικρος ερως
--The Garden of Eros
--Ave Imperatrix
--Pan: Double Villanelle
--Sen Artysty; or, The Artist's Dream
--Libertatis Sacra Fames
--Sonnet to Liberty
--Tædium Vitæ
--Fabien dei Franchi
--Serenade
--Camma
--Impression du Matin
--In the Gold Room: A Harmony

Impressions:
--I. Les Silhouettes
--II. La Fuite de la Lune
--III. Le Réveillon

--Hélas!

Impressions:
--I. Le Jardin
--II. La Mer

--Le Jardin des Tuileries
--The Harlot's House

Fantaisies Décoratives:
--I. Le Panneau
--II. Les Ballons

--Under the Balcony
--To My Wife: With a Copy of My Poems
--Sonnet on the Sale by Auction of Keats' Love Letters
--The New Remorse
--Canzonet
--With a Copy of 'A House of Pomegranates'
--Symphony in Yellow
--In the Forest
--The Sphinx
--The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Appendix: Wilde's Ordering of 'Poems' (1882)
Notes
Further Reading
Index of Titles and First Lines

[angel · Rating 2 out of 5]

“It is sweet to dance to violins
When Love and Life are fair:
To dance to flutes, to dance to lutes
Is delicate and rare:
But it is not sweet with nimble feet
To dance upon the air!”—

i LOVE oscar wilde, he’s an incredible writer, and he’s one of my favorite. unfortunately he sucks at poetry & that’s okay ❤️

[Arla · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is so frustrating. I really took my time reading this, just a few poems at a time. Oscar Wilde is one of my favourite writers, but this just isn’t up to the level I know he wrote at. It feels and looks pretty, but in my opinion it makes the poems a lot harder to digest. It feels like he wants to impress you with all the knowledge he has instead of focusing on bringing his message across. Obviously this written before The Picture of Dorian Gray, so he was probably still developing his writing style. It is nice to have on my shelves and to add it to the collection, but I don’t think I’ll read it back to back ever again

[kler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm speechless. His words sound like a very melodious symphony and you never want it to end. The last poem "Glukupicros Erôs" is one of the most beautiful thing I have ever read.

[Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

maybe if i liked poetry more this wouldn’t have taken me over a year

[giso0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a review for the premiere of one of his plays, I came across a sentence that oddly enough, relates my own feelings quite accurately: "He seems to me more a skilled writer than an inspired poet, that is to say, almost the opposite of what one would want us to believe..."

His poems dealt with matters of the heart, politics and history, were aestheticized with descriptions of the beautiful, and Wilde, as was expected of a young highbrow Oxonian, threw in chunks of mythology and bible.
So, it's not a surprise that they mostly feel artificial and cold.

[Colin Cloutus · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wouldn't be unfitting to associate Wilde's poetry, at its best, alongside the 'Last Romantics' like Yeats and Robert Bridges... his skill at love lyric, and derivative poems dedicated to the 'second-wave' Romantics is brilliant in its simplicity.
His weakness lies in the plodding nature of his narrative verse, and in his attempts at lyrical philosophical pondering, the two often crossing over.
Despite this, his main brilliance is in his ability to utilise the Greek myths at ease, and often paralleling it with reflections of the New Testament symbolism of his Catholic background and European art and architecture. While he, as expected, often strays into decadent and homosexual territory, it is done in taste.

[zoe raimondi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un poco dificil puntuar una colección de poemas, muchos daban para dos o tres estrellas y otros para cinco. En algunos casos no pude entender si no me gustaban porque todavía no estoy acostumbrada a leer poesía, porque el poema era malo o porque el Oscar se pone un poco pesado.

Anyways... top de los que mas me gustaron:
(sin orden en especifico)

▪︎"El discípulo"
▪︎"La esfinge"
▪︎"Helas!"
▪︎"Requiescat"
▪︎"Impressions" ("Les silhouettes" y "La fuite de la lune" )
▪︎Silentium Amoris
▪︎Impression du matin
▪︎"Su voz"
▪︎"Mi voz"
▪︎"Balada de la cárcel de Reading" ( si sacamos que justifica a un femicida :) )

[agenbiteofinwit · Rating 2 out of 5]

here is a token of thought that occurred as i was reading this book.

i think that upon reaching the 20th page benchmark i was questioning why did i not look into other poems of Wilde before purchasing it and have it occupied my shelf that could be of use to any other books that i would enjoy more? of course, the primary reason is that Wilde's language, his lyricism in "Each man kills the thing he loves" is very charming, alongside with the not so morally right The Picture of Dorian Gray which i had a lot of appreciation for. the problem here is that all that work took place after the majority of these poems were written. here we come to the criticism part, for Wilde famously said that "the supreme vice is shallowness", and let us explore whether the man really have to undergo so much unnecessary turmoil to find himself on the right track.

his early poems share his usual tones of lyricism, and romanticism too. yet, the lyricism in his poems simply doesn't appeal to me. the language seems to be far too superfluously flourished, especially of his imagery, but it fails to engage me, as a reader, because it doesn't touch me in any way, there is not much of this universality which all readers can adhere to in them. i.e. there is a poem called Italia, which is like this:
"Italia! thou art fallen, though with sheen
Of battle-spears thy clamorous armies stride
From the north Alps to the Sicilian tide!
Ay! fallen, though the nations hail thee Queen
Because rich gold in every town is seen,
And on thy sapphire-lake in tossing pride
Of wind-filled vans thy myriad galleys ride
Beneath one flag of red and white and green.
O Fair and Strong! O Strong and Fair in vain!
Look southward where Rome's desecrated town
Lies mourning for her God-anointed King!
Look heaven-ward! shall God allow this thing?
Nay! but some flame-girt Raphael shall come down,
And smite the Spoiler with the sword of pain."
i couldn't say how amazed i am by the fact that out of all things he could praise a country of, he chose the national flag. and for the whole of Italia and the love of it, by this poem, i couldn't care less, really.

the next aspect that is thoroughly demonstrated in his poems is that there is a lot of references to the Greek myths. i am not opposing it because it is too overly sophisticated for any common people like me to understand, or simply driven by the laziness in doing research about it (too many gods, it'd be such a disturbance for the reading experience). the point is that, in my very humble opinion, the poem can't be all about Greek myths, and how he's literally only by referring to the great Gods of Greek, his poems became all of that, and nothing else of his own. it seems to be more of this recreation of the myths or whatsoever, his narrative pieces are also painstakingly lacking, in void of the grandiosity which he very much is able to offer us, nor the beauty of language that grips your heart in a way like this line from Borges "i have bled into too many sunsets". to elaborate on this, his use of the myths very much limited the reading experience with the complexity of them, and myths alone do not give meaning to poems, unless the poet addresses it in his poems, instead of putting mythical characters that would only be the myths giving meaning to his works, and it becomes pointless, because it is lacking the relatability to the greater receivers of his work.

considering the style of most of these poems, they likely employed the 19th century poetic meter and the form as well, which is slightly old-fashioned and too rigid at points. it seems that Wilde cares more about rhyming than making his words bringing an element of truth, which somehow, as Friedrich Schiller mentioned in his On the Aesthetic Education of Man, a poet should include in his/ her work an element of truth even in the disguise of an illusion, that is to lead people, and to educate people on creating a better world. Wilde, by this definition, very much fails to be the poet that actually matters, as though he surely did have the courage to allow his works to become meaningless by putting forth his works and having written them.

thematically, most of these poems are about beauty and love, a few of it political (very slight), and some of them praising the great dead poets alongside the epic tales of a place, like Italia and Rome. some of his lines on beauty and love seem to me that they are reeking too much of the same energy as Coldplay's latter (not-so-good) lyrics about the same universal love, does. they aren't really chesesy, but so flaunting and lack of meaning. take this line as an instance:
"Sweet, there is nothing left to say
but this, that love is never lost."
is it just me or i think that actually sound like some random pop song in the 2010s have the same lyric? and it's very much the same cliche in some and maybe most of his other poems.

we cannot leave The Ballad of Reading Gaol unspoken, untouched, unattended here. it is the best poem of Wilde, because it is the one that, like some other reviews here written, has a personality of its own, that it doesn't feel like a rip-off of the 19th century romantic poets' works. the famous line of each man kills the thing he loves is very memorable, the rest is a lengthy, diary-like, observant poem about his endurance in the prison, and it seems slightly long-winded and repetitive in a way. but again, this is the best he could write, and presumably the only good one in his complete poetry collection.

overall, it is a great let down, (both ironically and unironically, i'm listening to that song of the same title by Radiohead, you know i know) and if you are looking for Wilde's ingenuity, it wasn't blossoming in his younger years- his literary flair, if you're so hell-bent on collecting all his work in a go, then you could buy it and let it wither away on your shelf, unless one day the thought of Greek mythology gave you a bit of a start that you became so eager to know about it, then this would be of some use, otherwise, it is just plain, uncreative, pretentious in a way with no significance philosophical musings or an artistic stir to add on to the beauty of language.

[Ajša P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Reading Gaol was by far the best of these, though reading it three times in two weeks is something I wouldn't recommend to anyone, it's simply too sad. But what can I say, those three "Each man kills the thing he loves" stanzas have me in a chokehold. The Spynx and Ravenna intrigued me, but the shorter poems were a mixed bag. I find that Wilde sticks with a certain set of phrases that he repeats over and over across poems, which makes them kind of blend into one another. Sometimes I had the feeling like lines weren't flowing exactly as well as the poet thought they did.

The longer poems were all... too long? I though that the lyric message got lost in the length, as well as in the ornate metaphors concerning Greek myths. That's more my problem than Wilde's though, I'm sure they contribute to the overall message of the poem, I just unfortunately don't understand how. I will return to some of the poems in the future when I have a sufficient knowledge of Greek classics. Overall, Wilde as a storyteller? Brilliant. Wilde as a poet? Eh... apart from some bright exceptions, not so much.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, esp. "Reading Gaol", which is heartbreaking and beautiful.

[Sean Meagher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of assorted poems written on vastly different topics over a number of years and locales. Some are less impactful without much context provided, but all clearly illustrate Wilde’s love of language. My favorite by far was Ravenna:


Adieu! Adieu! yon silent evening star,
The night's ambassador, cloth gleam afar,
And bid the shepherd bring his flocks to fold.
Perchance before our island seas of gold
Are garnered by the reapers into sheaves,
Perchance before I see the Autumn leaves,
I may behold thy city; and lay down
Low at thy feet the poet's laurel crown.
Adieu! Adieu! yon silver lamp, the moon,
Which turns our midnight into perfect noon,
Doth surely light thy towers, guarding well
Where Dante sleeps, where Byron loved to dwell.

[Chloé Winters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five enormous, glittering stars.
I do not believe that a person has existed who writes better than Oscar Wilde. My heart swoons over his prose, his rhythms, his imagery, the emotion, the story, his pure linguistic talent.

I always feel so full after reading Oscar's works. It's as though words were created just to be immortalised in the beauty that only Oscar can finesse. The last poem in this book was such sheer perfection and has gone straight to the top of my favourite poems of all time.

Again, the theme, the rhythm, the profundity, the imagery, his otherworldly wordsmithing makes this one to remember. It is so so long, and yet I didn't want it to end.

He deserves the title of the greatest author of all time, for no one can surpass his talent.

[row row · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the classic literature pioneers, I’ve always loved Oscar Wilde, but I actually hadn’t read a lot of his works besides Dorian Gray. I’ve never been a poetry person (though by now, with how many times I’ve read certain poetry and enjoyed it, I should really just say I’m a poetry person depending on the poet) but I loved Oscar Wilde’s poems. I highlighted a lot of individual lines throughout this collection, and I think his poems are clearer and easier for me to understand than most classic poets. This collection, Dorian Gray, and a small book of epigrams are all the Wilde works I’ve read, but I’ll be on the hunt now for a collection of his complete works.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

the ballad of reading gaol is probably one of the greatest poems of all time, unfortunately for Oscar the rest of these are quite bad, only ever mediocre at best. he certainly gets better with time, and by impressions i was like this is…fine. never have i see someone write about corn this much. also “our” england Oscar shut up you are IRISH. I think if you’re unfamiliar with poetry these seem incredible but in reality they are not. Oscar is the man of all time to me though i love him dearly i kept imagining him sitting at his little Oxford desk writing his little poems it warmed my heart.

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

O noble pilot tell me true
Is that the sheen of golden hair?
Or is it but the tangled dew
That binds the passion-flowers there?
Good sailor come and tell me now
Is that my Lady's lily hand?
Or is it but the gleaming prow,
Or is it but the silver sand?

No! no! 'tis not the tangled dew,
'Tis not the silver-fretted sand,
It is my own dear Lady true
With golden hair and lily hand!
O noble pilot steer for Troy,
Good sailor ply the labouring oar,
This is the Queen of life and joy
Whom we must bear from Grecian shore!

[alicha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard to rate poetry bundles as in my opinion poetry speaks to you at certain moments. I may dislike something now but love it at a different phase in my life. Which obviously makes ready through a complete poetry bundle ‘hell’ as it’s really a 50/50 chance wether you’ll connect with the piece or not.

[Misha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ballad of Reading Gaol and The Harlot’s House were excellent. The rest of the poems were very pretty and denote a decadent aesthetic, but they lacked feeling and after reading about 10 i was tired of them

[A.Akt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved "La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente" "Madonna Mia" "Roses and Rue" and of course, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" but that's about it. The rest of the poems... They just couldn't invoke any emotions in me.

[Liselotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF.
I love Oscar Wilde's short stories but I really thought I would've liked his poetry as well, but unfortunately I don't. I'm not really sure why, but I just don't. Such a shame for me, but at least I know now to just read more of his stories! :)

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great ones but mostly just some okay ones

[Théa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oscar petit pote, ton obsession pour la virginité est clairement malsaine

[نوفل عبدالله · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/wt6VKcOhcuw

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading The picture of Dorian gray I craved more, I need more of Wilde so I got his poetry and WOW, one of my favourite poets! His writing is just so beautiful! I highly recommend! :)

[Julia P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the Reading Gaol, but otherwise not really.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Risking to be considered a philistine, I just did not enjoy reading the poems. They were easy enough to read, but yet I was not smitten by their beauty.

[Beach · Rating 3 out of 5]

my man sure does like milky white throats lined with deep blue.
The ballad of reading gaol is the highlight, amazing, far outshines anything else.

[madeleine · Rating 1 out of 5]

snore

[Sagar Castleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

this should not be in print