Oscar Wilde: Selected Poems (Phoenix Poetry) [Hardcover]

Oscar Wilde (Author)

Book Description

Series: Phoenix Poetry | Publication Date: August 28, 2003

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 "Sonnet: On hearing the Dies Irae sung in the Sistine Chapel." Other brief pieces, called Impressions, capture the feeling of a moment: "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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Mighall is a former research fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and has been the editor of the Penguin Classics series. He now works as a consultant and writer in London. His publications include A Geography of Victorian Gothic Fiction and editions of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Robert Mighall is a former research fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and has been the editor of the Penguin Classics series. He now works as a consultant and writer in London. His publications include A Geography of Victorian Gothic Fiction and editions of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix (August 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753816628
• ISBN-13: 978-0753816622
• Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 4.5 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,307,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford where, a disciple of Pater, he founded an aesthetic cult. In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd, and his two sons were born in 1885 and 1886.
His novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and social comedies Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), established his reputation. In 1895, following his libel action against the Marquess of Queesberry, Wilde was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for homosexual conduct, as a result of which he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), and his confessional letter De Profundis (1905). On his release from prison in 1897 he lived in obscurity in Europe, and died in Paris in 1900.