Selected Poems

by Oscar Wilde, Robert Mighall (Editor)

And all men kill the thing they love
By all let it be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look.
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss.
The brave man with a sword!
--from "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"

Although best known for his sparkling and witty plays, Oscar Wilde also distinguished himself as a prolific poet. From "Ravenna," a prize-winning poem he wrote in college, to "The Ballad of Reading Gaol," penned during his time in prison for homosexual acts, Wilde created a fascinating body of verse. More than 35 of his works appear in this excellent collection, and they reveal the scope and brilliance of his writing. Many were inspired by his time in Italy, including " On hearing the Dies Irae sung in the Sistine Chapel." Other brief pieces, called Impressions, capture the feeling of a "Le Jardin" evokes a garden as winter descends. Still more honor his fellow poets, including "On the Sale of Keats' Love Letters." An enlightening anthology that Wilde lovers will treasure.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction, Ireland, Literature, Ebooks, English Literature

120 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 1900

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

[Kimberley doruyter · Rating 3 out of 5]

reading wilde makes you think that even if he were insulting you it would still be poetry.

[Steven Godin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sky is laced with fitful red,
The circling mists and shadows flee,
The dawn is rising from the sea,
Like a white lady from her bed.

And jagged brazen arrows fall
Athwart the feathers of the night,
And a long wave of yellow light
Breaks silently on tower and hall,

And spreading wide across the wold
Wakes into flight some fluttering bird,
And all the chestnut tops are stirred,
And all the branches streaked with gold.

[Joanka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may see why Wilde is not most famous for his poetry.

But seriously, of course I am no expert and I always feel very shy about commenting on poetry. Either I feel it or I don’t but I don’t feel in a place to judge it. A few poems from this collection really enchanted me (The Ballad of Reading Gaol, To My Wife With a Copy of My Poems or Roses And Rue), especially with their rhythm that immediately made me punctuate my own thoughts in the same “beat.” Many poems, however, didn’t make me feel anything, neither emotionally nor intellectually. I just read them and passed to next ones, not remembering a thing. Of course that might be the problem with the reader, not the poems!

This all being said, Wilde was surely a genius of words. They bent to his will and it’s visible in every single line I read in this collection.

[Kimberley doruyter · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like his full stories better the poems don't have any real common theme.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love them

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous poetry book by Oscar Wilde. I actually reckon I found in his poetry (especially in the poems "From the Garden of Eros" and "The Harlot's house" the inspiration for the celebrated George Sanders novel " Lincoln in the Bardo". The language is eerily similar. Novel's musings aside. My favourite is the joyous poem "Greece":

The sea was sapphire coloured, and the sky Burned like a heated opal through the air;
We hoisted sail; the wind was blowing fair
For the blue lands that to the eastward lie.
From the steep prow I marked with quickening eye Zakynthos, every olive grove and creek,
Ithaca's cliff, Lycaon's snowy peak,
And all the flower-strewn hills of Arcady.
The flapping of the sail against the mast,
The ripple of the water on the side,
The ripple of girls' laughter at the stern,
The only sounds:- when 'gan the West to burn, And a red sun upon the seas to ride,
I stood upon the soil of Greece at last!

I must visit Greece before long. This book is a beautiful work of art. Every Oscar Wilde Fan will delight in the great poetry he put together here. Thoroughly enjoyed. 5 stars.

[iana · Rating 3 out of 5]

liked, was good, but mehh. interestingly enough, I preferred the original draft of The Ballad of Reading Gaol better than I did the version written off it. the rest I breezed through without much attention. just didn’t quite stick.

“We were as men who through a fen
Of filthy darkness grope:
We did not dare to breathe a prayer,
Or to give our anguish scope:
Something was dead in each of us,
And what was dead was Hope.”

[Alysa H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection reminds me that there’s a reason beyond just biographical context that “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” is Wilde’s most famous poem. The reason is that his earlier poems are just not very memorable. They seem like one’s typical Victorian undergraduate pap.
Also, this edition has weird formatting problems.
But! “Ballad” is so great, I am giving this collection 4 stars anyway. :)

[adele · Rating 2 out of 5]

sadly these poems are not his best, i really do hope to read a collection with more of his poetry working cohesively!

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up because I wanted to read Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" - poetry he wrote from his experience in jail after being imprisoned for gross indecency. It is an important piece to read to learn more about Wilde. My first impressions while reading were empathy and sadness. Wilde's lyrics about living in jail really get to you. You feel for the prisoner's vulnerability from being under constant observation: "silent men/ who watch him night and day/ who watch him when he tries to weep, / And when he tries to pray" (Wilde p. 91). The private acts of sadness and prayer are not even his own anymore. Like the aesthete, Wilde still writes about his surroundings, but they are tinted - like how the prisoner savours the sky:

"I never saw a man who looked
With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky" (Wilde p. 93).

Society is so cruel to sentence such a creative and talented individual - to sentence any individual - for what makes them who they are.

Other poems of interest:
"A Symphony in Yellow"
The two poems in this collection about Keats
"Magdalen Walks" - a very fitting poem to read on this spring Easter weekend

[Iulia_R · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 ⭐

[Lindsey Rojem · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Oscar Wilde's work, but I was sad my favorite poem wasn't in this collection.

[Luis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never saw a man who looked
With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky,
And at every drifting cloud that went
With sails of silver by

Wonderful little booklet, and it takes so little space that one may carry it everywhere to enjoy brief spells of poetry.

The selection, although good, could be better, and some footnotes would have been appreciated.

[Eugenea Pollock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a collection off a free website, so not sure if it’s the same as this. That being said, the one that I read was very heavy on classical references. However, I do not blame Oscar for my problems with it. I just found it too remote to stay interested. Finishing was a chore.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think he should’ve sticked to his novels💀

[Reed Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

much better than most of the current poetry of monostiches with no meaning that sound like an corny instagram caption from 2012

[Aleś Karoza · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s sad that a person with such big talent was treated like a criminal just because British people in that time were not tolerant. After reading this book, I want to read more from Oscar Wilde, maybe a longer story.

[kota:) · Rating 4 out of 5]

first time ever reading any oscar wilde, he puts words together in ways you’d never even think of!!

[graciela · Rating 3 out of 5]

drinking game: take a shot every time oscar says crimson

[Julieta · Rating 4 out of 5]

“and all men kill the thing they love, by all let this be heard, some do it with a bitter look, some with a flattering word. the coward does it with a kiss. the brave man with a sword.”

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oscar Wilde is becoming my favorite classics author. Something about his writing style keeps me trapped in the story. The poetry was good. May have to revisit for more in depth knowledge

[Ivana Risteska · Rating 4 out of 5]

'...And all men kill the thing they love,
By all let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!...'

[➷ᴠɪɴᴄᴇ➹ · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3,5 ⭐

✒ "For what chills and kills outright
Is that every stone one lifts by day
Becomes one's heart by night."

✒ "I have made my choice, have lived my
poems, and, though youth is gone in wasted days,
I have found the lover's crown of myrtle better
than the poet's crown of bays."

[Dora · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh

[Nakedfartbarfer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of rhymed verse. Executes well in the Italian sonnet-form and well as terza rima, (Dante's preferred method for describing broiling hurricanes of lost souls and such). "Executes well" may be a poor endorsement of the wonder and poignant ecstasy which is the grail of poetry, but highlights the stringency of all rhymed verse. The form is, partially, a crossword puzzle.

In almost every poem here is a hodgepodge of analogies to Greek Myth and a general lamentation that contemporary artists and thinkers were intellectually allied to the cretin. After Keats laid down his head of "hymeneal curls" and Shelley's fiery heart beat its last, there were, according to Wilde, no more standard-bearers:

But they are few, and all romance has flown,
And men can prophesy about the sun,
And lecture on his arrows - how, alone,
Through a waste void soulless atoms run,
How from each tree its weeping nymph has fled,
And that no more 'mid English reeds a Naiad shows her head.

[The Bibliophile Doctor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved " The ballad of reading gaol " and " flower of love " the most..


"For he who lives more lives than one more deaths than one must die"


" Had my lips been smitten into music by the kisses that but made them bleed"



"Yet I'm not sorry that I loved you - ah! What else had I a boy to do - for the hungry teeth of time devour , and the silent footed years pursue"


Certainly when I was reading ballad.. I found myself at awkward thoughts about isn't it absurd to like it at all? So I reread it so I can hate it but it made me love it more than first time... that should be tragedy for me I thought but then when I started writing review I found out many people praised the same one the most...hushhhh...
Others are not to expectations though so four stars for the two above mentioned poems !!

[Puri Kencana Putri · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I remember I never could catch you,
For no one could match you,
You had wonderful, luminous, fleet,
Little wings to your feet.

I remember your hair - did I tie it?
For it always ran riot -
Like a tangled sunbeam of gold:
These things are old."

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful

Some beautiful poems that just trip off the tongue. The most famous of all, 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' is here along with mentions to Keats, Swinburne and other famous people of the day. A great read and very much recommended.

[Ifa Agnes]

Amazing collection of poem

Oscar wild has true magic of rhyme and capturing beauty in rhythmic scheme. Loved reading this collection!
I recommend it to everyone interested in poems of previous era

[Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Written in conjunction w/ One Hundred and One Famous Poems (compiled) by Roy Cook]

“All Bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.”
-Oscar Wilde

Overview:
In my Deep Book Pitch, I said “Poetry is a subject in which I’m intensely interested, but haven’t spent the time to explore it in depth.” Thanks to these two books that are now changed. First, there are One Hundred and One Famous Poems which is an excellent anthology of poetry popular in the early 20th century compiled by Roy Cook and featuring the work of renowned American poets like Edgar Allen Poe, James Whitcomb Riley, and William Cullen Bryant, contemporary poets including Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edgar Lee Masters, and legendary British literary figures such as William Shakespeare, and George Elliot. Second, there’s Oscar Wilde's Selected Poems, the very best of the controversial and influential Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde.

Author:

*No information could be found on Roy Cook, the compiler of One Hundred and One Famous Poems, but observations about the writing styles within the compilation will be featured later.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars"
-Oscar Wilde

Born on October 16th, 1854 to Irish intellectuals in Dublin, Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde showed creativity and intelligence from a young age, learning to speak French and German fluently. In school, he excelled at classical studies and eventually became an advocate for the philosophical movement aestheticism which he learned from his tutors. To attend university, Wilde moved to London where he became engulfed in eccentric and artistic social circles. In support of aestheticism, Wilde began publishing poetry and other works which built his reputation as a literary celebrity known for his glamour in both dress and conversation. Out of all of his aesthetic work, his most influential and revered was The Picture of Dorian Gray published in 1890. He also wrote numerous successful plays enjoyed by audiences throughout the region. In 1895, Wilde filed a court case against the Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel, but it was eventually discovered that Wilde had a homosexual relationship with the marquess’ son Lord Alfred Douglas. This discovery landed Wilde in prison where he later died of meningitis at 46.

Observations:

One Hundred and One Famous Poems:
The copy of this publication that I read was printed in 1945 and features two inscriptions. The first reads “To Marie Arlen with all our love, Mother & Daddy, May 24, 1945.” The second is from Marie to [presumably] her lover. It reads “Neal, this book of poetry was a gift from my parents on the occasion of my high school graduation, 18 years (and 16 days) ago. Cherish it, enjoy reading it, and remember how the school has been interwoven in our lives - yours & mine. Mrs. S. I love you.”This immediately reminded me of the time in which this book was published and how different it was. Reading these 101 famous poems, I noticed the distinctly old-fashioned writing style of the author and recurring images which each poet seemed to have found beautiful. Their varying artistic voices formed together to create a wealth of imaginative pictures in my mind, each telling a different story. If I had to describe what I learned from this book in one sentence, it would be that I learned how poets find beauty can find beauty in anything, but their true mission is to find truth in everything.

Oscar Wilde Selected Poems:
Oscar Wilde writes with flair and expressiveness in all of his poems, no matter the length. Of all the poets from his period I’ve had the chance to read, Wilde is by far the clearest to read and his writing has a certain modernity to it which is painfully missing in many of the works of the previous book. He articulates beauty as most poets do, but with a duality more commonly found in philosophers. It’s no wonder that he’s become so influential in the literary world, and his work deserves to be appreciated.

Conclusion:
The definition of poetry has been debated, argued, and restated thousands of times. Thomas Gray said, “Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.” Robert Frost said, “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought, and the thought has found its words.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge said “Poetry is the best words in the best order” which I thoroughly disagree with. Leonard Cohen said “Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning, [well] poetry is just the ash.” William Wordsmith said, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origins in emotions, recollected in tranquility.” Any of these could be true, but I think Robert Graves said it best:

“To be a poet is a condition, not a profession.”