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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OSCAR WILDE, by ELSA BARKER Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: Laureate of corruption, on whose brow Subject(s): Wilde, Oscar (1854-1900) | |||
LAUREATE of corruption, on whose brow The bay-leaves are all slimy with the worm! Thou art a nightingale whose songs affirm The canker in the rosebud, from a bough Of the dark cypress warbling. Some strange vow Thy spirit must have taken before birth To some strange god, to desecrate the earth With visions vile and beautiful as thou. We loathe thee with the sure, instinctive dread Of young things for the graveyard and the scar. And though God wept when Lucifer's great star With its long train cried from the deeps blood- red, Still must we name thee with the second dead, For when the angels fall they fall so far! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET OF ADDRESSING OSCAR WILDE by ANNE CARSON THE ARREST OF OSCAR WILDE AT THE CADOGAN HOTEL by JOHN BETJEMAN THE DEAD POET by ALFRED BRUCE DOUGLAS THE GOURMAND, SELECTION by HARRY GRAHAM ARREST OF OSCAR WILDE AT THE CADOGAN HOTEL by JOHN BETJEMAN ON LOVE: OSCAR WILDE by EDWARD HIRSCH OH WHO IS THAT YOUNG SINNER WITH HANDCUFFS ON HIS WRIST by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN HOMEMADE VOODOO by RODGER LEE KAMENETZ METAMORPHOSES: 2. ORPHEUS (OSCAR WILDE) by WAYNE KOESTENBAUM A PRAYER FOR LOVE by ELSA BARKER |
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