Complete Poetry (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Oscar Wilde (Author), Isobel Murray (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Oxford World's Classics | Publication Date: May 6, 1999

This volume of Keats'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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Cry Woe, Woe, And Let The Good Prevail, Fr. Agamemnon
A Fragment From The Agamemnon Of Aeschylos
Chorus Of Cloud-maidens: Strophe, Fr. The Clouds
Chorus Of The Cloud-maiden: Antistrophe, Fr. The Clouds
Lamentation, Fr. Hecuba
Ballade De Marguerite
The Dole Of The King's Daughter
Amor Intellectuals
Apologia
At Verona
Athanasia
Ave Imperatrix
Ave Maria Gratia Plena
The Ballad Of Reading Gaol
The Burden Of Itys
By The Arno
Camma
Canzonet
Chanson
Charmides
E Tenebris [from The Shadows]
Easter Day [in Rome]
Endymion
Fabien Dei Franchi
Fantaisies Decoratives: 1. Le Panneau
Flower Of Love
From Spring Days To Winter (for Music)
The Garden Of Eros
The Grave Of Keats
The Grave Of Shelley
The Harlot's House
Helas!
Her Voice
Humanitad
Impression De Voyage
Impression Du Matin
Impressions: La Fuite De La Lune
Impressions: La Mer
Impressions: Le Jardin
Impressions: Les Silhouettes
In The Forest
In The Gold Room
Italia
La Bella Donna Del Mia Mente
Le Jardin Des Tuileries
Les Balloons
Libertatis Sacra Fames
Lotus Leaves
Louis Napoleon
Madonna Mia
Magdalen Walks
My Voice
The New Helen
The New Remorse
On The Sale By Auction Of Keats' Love Letters
Pan: Double Villanelle
Panthea
Phedre
Portia
Quantum Mutata
Queen Henrietta Maria
Quia Multum Amavi
Ravenna
Requiescat
Rome Unvisited
Roses And Rue
San Miniato
Santa Decca
Sen Artysty; Or, The Artist's Dream (from Helena Modjeska)
Serenade (for Music)
Silentium Amoris
Sonnet On Approaching Italy
Sonnet On Hearing The Dies Irae Sung In The Sistine Chapel
Sonnet To Liberty
Sonnet Written In Holy Week At Genoa
Sonnet. On The Massacre Of Christians In Bulgaria
The Sphinx
Sunrise
Symphony In Yellow
Taedium Vitae
The Theatre At Argos
Theocritus; A Villanelle
Theoretikos
To Milton
To My Wife: With A Copy Of My Poems
The True Knowledge
Under The Balcony
Urbs Sacra Aeterna
A Vision
Vita Nuova
Wasted Days (from A Picture Painted By Miss Violet Troubridge)
With A Copy Of 'a House Of Pomegranates'
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Isobel Murray is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Aberdeen. She has edited four previous editions of Wilde's work for OUP, including Oxford Authors, Oscar Wilde, and published mant articles on his work.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192835262
• ISBN-13: 978-0192835260
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,197,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Slim Evocation to the Muse of Poesy, January 9, 2010

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This review is from: Complete Poetry (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Oscar Wilde's first book was a collection of his poetry, and perhaps it was as a poet that Wilde thought of himself at the end of life. His last published work during his life time was "The Ballad of Reading Gaol," and in DE PROFUNDIS -- the letter he wrote in prison -- he seems to identify himself more with poets than martyrs (despite his statement that "...the secret of life is suffering..."). His early poetry was condemned as the work of a plagiarist, and yet it contains much beauty -- but (strangely?) little if any of his famous wit. He wrote several sonnets, including the following, one of my favourites:
"Helas!"
To drift with every passion till my soul
Is a stringed lute on which all winds can play,
Is it for this that I have given away
Mine ancient wisdom, and austere control?
Methinks my life is a twice-written scroll
Scrawled over on some boyish holiday
With idle songs for pipe and virelay,
Which do but mar the secret of the whole.
Surely there was a time I might have trod
The sunlit heights, and from life's dissonance
Struck one clear chord to reach the ears of God:
Is that time dead? lo! with a little rod
I did but touch the honey of romance --
And must I lose a soul's inheritance?

Micheal MacLiammoir recited this in his one-man show concerning Wilde's Life and Work, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR, and he recited it as smooth poetic prose, and as such it sounded like natural language, despite its strict poetic form.

Perhaps my favourite poem of all time is "The Harlot's House," a work that is strange and evocative. There are many audio/visual renditions of the poem on YouTube, some of which are quite wonderful. I am less impressed with "The Ballad of Reading Gaol," which seems to me too long; yet one cannot doubt the sincerity of its source and message. This is a great wee book. Editor Isobel Murray has included a fascinating introduction and copious notes.