Poems
Oscar Wilde
Poems
Oscar Wilde's first commercial book, a decorated collection shaped by classical myth, Catholic imagery, travel, love, and the Aesthetic movement.
Read our takeThe Sphinx
Oscar Wilde
The Sphinx
by Oscar Wilde
A long, highly decorated poem in which a speaker questions a sphinx about imagined lovers, gods, monsters, and ancient history.
- 1894
- Atmospheric
- lyrical
- dark
- challenging
About Oscar Wilde
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeThe Sphinx is Oscar Wilde's long Decadent poem built from exotic names, jeweled colors, ancient religions, erotic fantasy, and abrupt religious recoil. Its speaker addresses a sphinx in his room and invents a history of her desires. The original limited edition was designed by Charles Ricketts as an elaborate art book.
The story, in more detail
Wilde worked on versions of the poem for years before its 1894 publication. The poem is meant to overwhelm through sound and accumulation rather than tell a clean historical story.
Its imagined Egypt and Near East belong to a European tradition of Orientalism: they reveal Victorian fantasy about the East, not dependable knowledge of the cultures being named.
The poems
The speaker asks the sphinx to describe a sequence of divine, animal, and monstrous lovers.
The poem's lush catalogue ends in rejection, as the speaker tries to drive the pagan figure away and turn toward the crucifix.
Why we recommend it
Why it matters
It is the fullest example of Wilde's Decadent poetic style and of book design as part of the work.
Where it fits
Read it after Poems and before the prison ballad to understand the scale of Wilde's late change in voice.
What this book explores
Timeline
1894
Elkin Mathews and John Lane published The Sphinx in 1894.
Modern editions
Editors continue to publish the work alone and in collections; introductions and notes explain the relevant performance or textual history.
Book editions
Hardcover
- Hardcover
- Elkin Mathews and John Lane
- 1894
Reader reviews
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Read our takeThe Sphinx: frequently asked questions
What is The Sphinx by Oscar Wilde about?
The Sphinx is Oscar Wilde's long Decadent poem built from exotic names, jeweled colors, ancient religions, erotic fantasy, and abrupt religious recoil. Its speaker addresses a sphinx in his room and invents a history of her desires. The original limited edition was designed by Charles Ricketts as an elaborate art book.
When was The Sphinx published?
Elkin Mathews and John Lane published The Sphinx in 1894.
Should I read The Sphinx first?
Usually not. Start with The Importance of Being Earnest for comedy, The Picture of Dorian Gray for fiction, or The Happy Prince and Other Tales for short stories, then return to The Sphinx.