De Profundis and Other Prison Writings by
De Profundis and Other Prison Writings is a new selection of Oscar Wilde's prison letters and poetry in Penguin Classics, edited and introduced by Colm Tóibín. At the start of 1895, Oscar Wilde was the toast of London, widely feted for his most recent stage success, An Ideal Husband. But by May of the same year, Wilde was in Reading prison sentenced to hard labour. 'De Profundis' is an epistolic account of Oscar Wilde's spiritual journey while in prison, and describes his new, shocking conviction that 'the supreme vice is shallowness'. This edition also includes further letters to his wife, his friends, the Home Secretary, newspaper editors and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas - Bosie - himself, as well as 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol', the heart-rending poem about a man sentenced to hang for the murder of the woman he loved. This Penguin edition is based on the definitive Complete Letters, edited by Wilde's grandson Merlin Holland. Colm Tóibín's introduction explores Wilde's duality in love, politics and literature. This edition also includes notes on the text and suggested further reading. Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin. His three volumes of short fiction, The Happy Prince, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and A House of Pomegranates, together with his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, won him a reputation as a writer with an original talent, a reputation enhanced by the phenomenal success of his society comedies - Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest. Colm Tóibín is the author of five novels, including The Blackwater Lightship and The Master, and a collection of stories, Mothers and Sons. His essay collection Love in a Dark Time: Gay Lives from Wilde to Almodovar appeared in 2002. He is the editor of The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction.
“The gods are strange. It is of of our vices only they make instruments to scourge us. They bring us to ruin through what in us is good, gentle, humane, loving.”
Gods are often portrayed as those who to award people’s kindness and good nature, while punish people who committed sins. Yet here, Wilde assume that the Gods punished him because of his was all kind and caring towards Bosie Douglas. Wilde believe that he didn’t do anything wrong in his relationship between him and Douglas, therefore the punish he received are the unwarranted punishments from the Gods.
Selected Poems of Oscar Wilde by
Selected Poems of Oscar Wilde contains the following seventeen poems The Ballad Of Reading Gaol, Ave Imperatrix, To My Wife - With A Copy Of My Poems, Magdalen Walks, Theocritus - A Villanelle, Greece, Portia, Fabien Dei Franchi, Phedre, Sonnet On Hearing The Dies Irae Sung In The Sistine Chapel, Ave Maria Gratia Plena, Libertatis Sacra Fames, Roses And Rue, From 'The Garden Of Eros', The Harlot's House, From 'The Burden Of Itys', Flower of Love
“And I shall weep and worship, as before”
——The New Remorse
The narrator weeping for the lost lover but also worshiping their love. Weep and worship are two contradict emotions, here it appears on the same person at the same time. This shows the complex emotion the narrator holds towards the lover, how the narrator hated the lover yet still can't abandon their love.
“And your voice had a quaver in it,
Just like a linnet,
And shook, as the blackbird’s throat,
With its last big note;”
——The Rose and Rue
Contradiction and symbolism. The linnet sings beautifully, while black bird (usually a way to represent craws or ravens) has a loud, rough sound. Blackbird can also symbolize death, while linnet represents vitality. The contradicted characteristics represented by two different birds is now shown on the same person, the use of symbols elevated the ambivalent attitude held by the lover.
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde by
The Canterville Ghost By Oscar Wilde."The Canterville Ghost" is a short story by Oscar Wilde, widely adapted for the screen and stage. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in two parts in The Court and Society Review, 23 February and 2 March 1887.The story is about a family who moves to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead nobleman, who killed his wife and was starved to death by his wife's brothers.
““I am so sorry for you,” she said, “but my brothers are going back to Eton to-morrow, and then, if you behave yourself, no one will annoy you.””
Virginia (the girl who's speaking, also the protagonist) is here to ask a ghost to behave himself, as a ghost, the ghost of Canterville certainly doesn’t “behave” same as what humans would expect. But Virginia is a kind and innocent girl, she believes that the ghost would receive peace if he behaves because no one would bother him anymore.