Poems
Wilde published poetry before anything else. Ravenna won Oxford's Newdigate Prize in 1878, his first book was Poems in 1881, and his last work was The Ballad of Reading Gaol in 1898.
Here are 98 of them, including the six Poems in Prose. The shorter poems are listed under the sections they were published in, with their first lines.
The long poems
Every poem, with its first line
Eleutheria
- Sonnet to LibertyNot that I love thy children, whose dull eyes
- Ave ImperatrixSet in this stormy Northern sea,
- To MiltonMilton! I think thy spirit hath passed away
- Louis NapoleonEagle of Austerlitz! where were thy wings
- Sonnet: On the Massacre of the Christians in BulgariaChrist, dost thou live indeed? or are thy bones
- Quantum MutataThere was a time in Europe long ago
- Libertatis Sacra FamesAlbeit nurtured in democracy,
- TheoretikosThis mighty empire hath but feet of clay:
Rosa Mystica
- RequiescatTread lightly, she is near
- Sonnet on Approaching ItalyI reached the Alps: the soul within me burned,
- San MiniatoSee, I have climbed the mountain side
- Ave Maria Gratia PlenaWas this His coming! I had hoped to see
- ItaliaItalia! thou art fallen, though with sheen
- Sonnet: Written in Holy Week at GenoaI wandered through Scoglietto's far retreat,
- Rome UnvisitedThe corn has turned from grey to red,
- Urbs Sacra AeternaRome! what a scroll of History thine has been;
- Sonnet: On Hearing the Dies Irae Sung in the Sistine ChapelNay, Lord, not thus! white lilies in the spring,
- Easter DayThe silver trumpets rang across the Dome:
- E TenebrisCome down, O Christ, and help me! reach thy hand,
- Vita NuovaI stood by the unvintageable sea
- Madonna MiaA lily-girl, not made for this world's pain,
- The New HelenWhere hast thou been since round the walls of Troy
Wind Flowers
- Impression du MatinThe Thames nocturne of blue and gold
- Magdalen WalksThe little white clouds are racing over the sky,
- AthanasiaTo that gaunt House of Art which lacks for naught
- SerenadeThe western wind is blowing fair
- EndymionThe apple trees are hung with gold,
- La Bella Donna Della Mia MenteMy limbs are wasted with a flame,
- ChansonA ring of gold and a milk-white dove
Impressions
Flowers of Gold
- The Grave of KeatsRid of the world's injustice, and his pain,
- TheocritusO singer of Persephone!
- In the Gold RoomHer ivory hands on the ivory keys
- Ballade de MargueriteI am weary of lying within the chase
- The Dole of the King's DaughterSeven stars in the still water,
- Amor IntellectualisOft have we trod the vales of Castaly
- Santa DeccaThe Gods are dead: no longer do we bring
- A VisionTwo crownèd Kings, and One that stood alone
- Impression de VoyageThe sea was sapphire coloured, and the sky
- The Grave of ShelleyLike burnt-out torches by a sick man's bed
- By the ArnoThe oleander on the wall
Impressions de Théâtre
Written at the Lyceum Theatre
The Fourth Movement
- Impression: Le RéveillonThe sky is laced with fitful red,
- At VeronaHow steep the stairs within Kings' houses are
- ApologiaIs it thy will that I should wax and wane,
- Quia Multum AmaviDear Heart, I think the young impassioned priest
- Silentium AmorisAs often-times the too resplendent sun
- Her VoiceThe wild bee reels from bough to bough
- My VoiceWithin this restless, hurried, modern world
- Taedium VitaeTo stab my youth with desperate knives, to wear
Fantaisies Décoratives
Poems in Prose
- The ArtistOne evening there came into his soul the desire to fashion an image of The Pleasure...
- The Doer of GoodIt was night-time and He was alone.
- The DiscipleWhen Narcissus died the pool of his pleasure changed from a cup of sweet waters into a...
- The MasterNow when the darkness came over the earth Joseph of Arimathea, having lighted a torch...
- The House of JudgmentAnd there was silence in the House of Judgment, and the Man came naked before God.
- The Teacher of WisdomFrom his childhood he had been as one filled with the perfect knowledge of God, and...
Other poems
- Chorus of Cloud MaidensCloud maidens that float on for ever,
- From Spring Days to WinterIn the glad springtime when leaves were green,
- A LamentΑἴλινον, αἴλινον εἰπέ, τὸ δ' εὖ νικάτω
- The True Knowledge… ἀναγκαίως δ' ἔχει
- ΘρηνῳδίαO fair wind blowing from the sea!
- Lotus Leaves… νεμεσσῶμαί γε μὲν οὐδέν
- Wasted DaysA fair slim boy not made for this world's pain,
- A Fragment from the Agamemnon of AeschylosThy prophecies are but a lying tale,
- The Theatre at ArgosNettles and poppy mar each rock-hewn sea
- RavennaA year ago I breathed the Italian air—
- Sen ArtystyI too have had my dreams: ay, indeed known
- Hélas!To drift with every passion till my soul
- The Garden of ErosIt is full summer now, the heart of June;
- The Burden of ItysThis English Thames is holier far than Rome,
- CharmidesHe was a Grecian lad, who coming home
- PantheaNay, let us walk from fire unto fire,
- HumanitadIt is full winter now: the trees are bare,
- Flower of LoveSweet, I blame you not, for mine the fault was, had I not been made of common clay
- Under the BalconyO beautiful star with the crimson mouth!
- The Harlot's HouseWe caught the tread of dancing feet,
- Le Jardin des TuileriesThis winter air is keen and cold,
- On the Sale by Auction of Keats' Love LettersThese are the letters which Endymion wrote
- The New RemorseThe sin was mine; I did not understand.
- CanzonetI have no store
- Symphony in YellowAn omnibus across the bridge
- In the ForestOut of the mid-wood's twilight
- To My WifeI can write no stately proem
- With a Copy of A House of PomegranatesGo, little book,
- Roses and RueCould we dig up this long-buried treasure,
- DésespoirThe seasons send their ruin as they go,
- PanO goat-foot God of Arcady!
- The SphinxIn a dim corner of my room for longer than my fancy thinks
- The Ballad of Reading GaolHe did not wear his scarlet coat,