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.
“I will begin by telling you that I blame myself terribly… I blame myself. In the perturbed and fitful nights… it is myself I blame. I blame myself for allowing an unintellectual friendship…”
Epimone:
Oscar Wilde repeated the phrase “I blame myself” for four times in this paragraph. The repetition shows a great amount of guilt Wilde has towards his friendship with Douglas. The repeating of this phrase also shows a great amount of sorrow and pain Oscar Wilde now hold with him.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by
Celebrated novel traces the moral degeneration of a handsome young Londoner from an innocent fop into a cruel and reckless pursuer of pleasure and, ultimately, a murderer. As Dorian Gray sinks into depravity, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait reflects the ravages of crime and sensuality.
“The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.”
Negative-Positive restatement:
This is a specific type of repetition that Oscar Wilde used in his work. This type of repetition is called a “negative-positive restatement”. It’s when the sentence first expresses a negative idea, then repeat it in a positive sense. In this case, Oscar Wilde first say that old age is a tragedy (negative), then he say that it’s a tragedy not because of old, but young (positive).
The Nightingale and the Rose Oscar Wilde by
A nightingale overhears a student complaining that his professor's daughter will not dance with him, as he is unable to give her a red rose. The nightingale visits all the rose-trees in the garden, and one of the white roses tell her that there's a way to produce a red rose, but only if the nightingale is prepared to sing the sweetest song for the rose all night, and sacrifice her life to do so. Seeing the student in tears, the nightingale carries out the ritual, and impales herself on the rose-tree's thorn so that her heart's blood can stain the rose. The student takes the rose to the professor's daughter, but she again rejects him because another man has sent her some real jewels, and "everybody knows that jewels cost far more than flowers." The student angrily throws the rose into the gutter, returns to his study of metaphysics, and decides not to believe in true love anymore.
“She passes through the grove like a shadow, and like a shadow she sailed across the garden.”
Inversion:
The order of the words now repeated in reverse just to emphasize how the nightingale passes through the dark quiet as a shadow. “Like a shadow” helped the readers to imagine the smooth and swift motion this nightingale has while she flies.
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.
“… that you must weep with me for my sins, because I have no tears, and pray with me for my soul, because I have no faith…”
Gradatio:
As the ghost of Canterville asked Virginia to pray for him, he repeated the same sentence structure of how a ghost has no faith along side with tears. The ghost is a creature with certain humane characteristics but certainly not human. This makes the readers hold great sympathy on the ghost because he is not totally evil but he can’t repent for what he did when he’s alive.
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
“I remember I never could catch you”
“I remember your hair”
“I remember so well the room”
Anaphora:
The repetition of “remember” shows how the person is immersed in their memory and past. All the details remembered by the narrator shows the deep love to his lover. The first two remember all follows with physical contact between the narrator and the lover. This shows their close relationship and the intimacy between them.