CRITICAL APPRECIATION AND LINE BY LINE ANALYSIS OF FLOWER OF LOVE BY Oscar Wilde

About the Poet:

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on 16^th October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. He was born to Lady Jane Wilde and William Wilde, an Anglo- Irish couple. He was a poet and a playwright. Wilde got baptised in an Anglical church. He is known for his poems and epigrams. Wilde could fluently speak German and French. He studied in Trinity College, Dublin and then in Oxford. Wilde was an excellent student.

After university, he lectured on “English Renaissance in Art” and interior decoration as well. his most famous creation is the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” published in 1891 in a book form. Oscar Wilde was deeply influenced by Catholicism.

Wilde had also worked as a journalist and had a theatrical career as well. He got married to Constance Lloyd in 1884.

He was an important part of the Aesthetic movement and the Decadent movement. Some of his most significant creations are “A House of Pomegranates” (1891), “Poems” (1881), “Ravenna” (1878), “The Sphinx” (1894), “A Woman of No Importance” (1893), “Intentions” (1891), “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” (1898), “An Ideal Husband” (1895), “De Profundis” (1897), “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895), “The Happy Prince and other stories” (1888) and a lot more.

Wilde passed away at the age of 46 in Paris on November 30, 1900.

About the Poem:

There is a hint of regret in the first few stanzas of the poem. From stanza 11, he has also been seen to justify his act of loving the listener, to whom the poem is addressed. The poet has tried to defend his act of loving the listener, even when it had caused him lots of losses and damages in life.

Structure of the Poem

Flower of Love

“Sweet, I blame you not, for mine the fault was, had I not been made of common clay
I had climbed the higher heights unclimbed yet, seen the fuller air, the larger day.
From the wildness of my wasted passion I had struck a better, clearer song,
Lit some lighter light of freer freedom, battled with some Hydra-headed wrong.

Had my lips been smitten into music by the kisses that but made them bleed,
You had walked with Bice and the angels on that verdant and enamelled meed.

I had trod the road which Dante treading saw the suns of seven circles shine,
Ay! perchance had seen the heavens opening, as they opened to the Florentine.

And the mighty nations would have crowned me, who am crownless now and without name,
And some orient dawn had found me kneeling on the threshold of the House of Fame.

I had sat within that marble circle where the oldest bard is as the young,
And the pipe is ever dropping honey, and the lyre's strings are ever strung.

Keats had lifted up his hymeneal curls from out the poppy-seeded wine,
With ambrosial mouth had kissed my forehead, clasped the hand of noble love in mine.

And at springtide, when the apple-blossoms brush the burnished bosom of the dove,
Two young lovers lying in an orchard would have read the story of our love;

Would have read the legend of my passion, known the bitter secret of my heart,
Kissed as we have kissed, but never parted as we two are fated now to part.

For the crimson flower of our life is eaten by the cankerworm of truth,
And no hand can gather up the fallen withered petals of the rose of youth.

Yet I am not sorry that I loved you -ah! what else had I a boy to do?
For the hungry teeth of time devour, and the silent-footed years pursue.

Rudderless, we drift athwart a tempest, and when once the storm of youth is past,
Without lyre, without lute or chorus, Death the silent pilot comes at last.

And within the grave there is no pleasure, for the blindworm battens on the root,
And Desire shudders into ashes, and the tree of Passion bears no fruit.

Ah! what else had I to do but love you? God's own mother was less dear to me,
And less dear the Cytheraean rising like an argent lily from the sea.

I have made my choice, have lived my poems, and, though youth is gone in wasted days,
I have found the lover's crown of myrtle better than the poet's crown of bays.”

The rhyming scheme of the poem is AA BB CC DD and so on.

Line by line analysis of the Poem:

Stanza 1:

“Sweet, I blame you not, for mine the fault was, had I not been made of common clay
I had climbed the higher heights unclimbed yet, seen the fuller air, the larger day.”

The poet expresses a feeling of regret here. He says that if he were not an ordinary man, he would have reached greater heights and would have seen fuller air and experienced better days. He also says that it is not the fault of the listener, but his own fault because he was made of “common clay”.

Stanza 2:

“From the wildness of my wasted passion I had struck a better, clearer song,
Lit some lighter light of freer freedom, battled with some Hydra-headed wrong.”

The poet here agrees that he had wasted the wildness of his passion. Had he utilised it well, he would be in a better position. But he says that in order to taste freedom, he had to fight lots of wrongs in life. He had to overcome the wrongs. Hydra is a multi-headed serpentine water monster according to Roman and Greek mythology.

Stanza 3:

“Had my lips been smitten into music by the kisses that but made them bleed,
You had walked with Bice and the angels on that verdant and enamelled meed.”

In this stanza, the speaker claims that if he used his passion well even if they made him bleed, the listener would get to walk on the beautiful and decorated share of his honour.

Stanza 4:

“I had trod the road which Dante treading saw the suns of seven circles shine,
Ay! perchance had seen the heavens opening, as they opened to the Florentine.”

The poet has walked the path that Dante had walked to see the suns of “seven circles shine”. He says that perhaps Dante also saw the gates of heaven opening for hm as they did for the Florentine.

Stanza 5:

“And the mighty nations would have crowned me, who am crownless now and without name,
And some orient dawn had found me kneeling on the threshold of the House of Fame.”

The might nations would have honoured the poet. But now, he is crownless and is not recognised even. “The House of Fame” is a poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer. The poet, in this poem, contemplates the role of the poet. Wilde says that probably beautiful dawn has just found him kneeling in front of the House of Fame for contemplation.

Stanza 6:

“I had sat within that marble circle where the oldest bard is as the young,
And the pipe is ever dropping honey, and the lyre's strings are ever strung.”

The poet has found himself sitting within a “marble circle” with other bards (poets). The pipe there is dropping honey and the lyre’s strings are strung. In that circle, even the oldest poet is as the young one.

Stanza 7:

“Keats had lifted up his hymeneal curls from out the poppy-seeded wine,
With ambrosial mouth had kissed my forehead, clasped the hand of noble love in mine.”

The poet also talks about Keats. The poet got kissed on his forehead and he considers that to be equivalent to ambrosia. He found noble and pure love in his hands.

Stanza 8:

“And at springtide, when the apple-blossoms brush the burnished bosom of the dove,
Two young lovers lying in an orchard would have read the story of our love;”

The event when bloomed apple blossoms touch the polished bodies of the dove is evidence that it is springtide. Spring is the season of love. The poet says, that when spring would arrive, two lovers would sit in the woods and read their love story.

Stanza 9:

“Would have read the legend of my passion, known the bitter secret of my heart,
Kissed as we have kissed, but never parted as we two are fated now to part.”

The lovers talked about in the last stanza, would also read about the passion of the poet and also reveal his bitter secret. They would have kissed the way the poet and his lover had kissed. But unlike the poet and his lover, they would never part their ways. The poet has also said that it was their fate to part ways, but the two young lovers would not do it.

Stanza 10:

“For the crimson flower of our life is eaten by the cankerworm of truth,
And no hand can gather up the fallen withered petals of the rose of youth.”

The beauty of the poet and his lover’s life had been eaten up and destroyed by the “cankerworm’ of truth. Thus, they have nothing left except some withered petals signifying their dying youth.

Stanza 11:

“Yet I am not sorry that I loved you -ah! what else had I a boy to do?
For the hungry teeth of time devour, and the silent-footed years pursue.”

From, this stanza the poet starts justifying his act of loving the listener. He is not sorry for how he felt, for he had no other choice. In this course, his youth got eaten up by time and circumstances.

Stanza 12:

“Rudderless, we drift athwart a tempest, and when once the storm of youth is past,
Without lyre, without lute or chorus, Death the silent pilot comes at last.”

They drifted apart in different directions as if hit by a storm. When the youth ends totally, without any melody or song, death would become a silent pilot that would show directions.

Stanza 13:

“And within the grave there is no pleasure, for the blindworm battens on the root,
And Desire shudders into ashes, and the tree of Passion bears no fruit.”

The poet says that within the grave there is no use of desire and passion. The worms eat up everything and every emotion. There is no pleasure left once one goes into the grave.

Stanza 14:

“Ah! what else had I to do but love you? God's own mother was less dear to me,
And less dear the Cytheraean rising like an argent lily from the sea.”

The poet again expresses little regret that he had loved the listener even more than God’s own mother. The listener was dearer to him than anybody else including the Cytheraean that rose like a silvery white lily from the waters.

Stanza 15:

“I have made my choice, have lived my poems, and, though youth is gone in wasted days,
I have found the lover's crown of myrtle better than the poet's crown of bays.”

Even after all the regrets, in the final stanza, the poet is clear about the choices that he has made. His youth has been wasted. But he would want to be a lover than a poet. He would want to wear the crown of myrtle than the crown of bays. Myrtle signifies peace and love, whereas bay trees signify courage and strength as per Roman and Greek mythology. The Roman Gods often wore crowns of bay leaves in order to glorify their high status.

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Figures of Speech Used in the Poem:

1. Alliteration:

• This is a figure of speech where closely associated words or corresponding words begin with the same alphabet in a sentence.
• “From the wildness of my wasted passion I had struck a better, clearer song”

2. Anaphora:

• It is a figure of speech, where various sentences or verses begin with the same word.
• “And the mighty nations would have crowned me, who am crownless now and without a name,

And some orient dawn had found me kneeling on the threshold of the House of Fame.”

• “I have made my choice, have lived my poems, and though youth is gone in wasted days,

I have found the lover’s crown of myrtle better than the poet’s crown of bays.”

Important Word Meanings:

1. Smitten: Infatuated.
2. Verdant: Bright green colour of lush grass.
3. Enamelled: Decorated.
4. Meed: A person’s share of honour.
5. Perchance: Perhaps.
6. Hymeneal: Related to marriage.
7. Ambrosial: Ambrosia is the food or drink that the Greek Gods consumed in order to be immortal.
8. Burnished: Glossy.
9. Orchard: Woods.
10. Devour: Consume.
11. Athwart: Crossways.
12. Tempest: Storm.
13. Rudderless: Directionless.
14. Lute: A type of instrument.
15. Argent: silvery white.
16. Myrtle: An evergreen shrub.

The theme of the Poem:

The poet has defended love in the poem. He said that he would have achieved great heights, had he not loved the listener; but by the end of the poem, he has also justified doing the same. The central theme of the poem is the emotion of love and the poet tried to explain how people often end up losing so much included successes and youth, just for the sake of love.