Amor Intellectualis Poem by Oscar Wilde

Amor Intellectualis

Rating: 3.0


OFT have we trod the vales of Castaly
And heard sweet notes of sylvan music blown
From antique reeds to common folk unknown:
And often launched our bark upon that sea
Which the nine Muses hold in empery,
And ploughed free furrows through the wave and foam,
Nor spread reluctant sail for more safe home
Till we had freighted well our argosy.
Of which despoilèd treasures these remain,
Sordello's passion, and the honied line
Of young Endymion, lordly Tamburlaine
Driving his pampered jades, and more than these,
The seven-fold vision of the Florentine,
And grave-browed Milton's solemn harmonies.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
SS BAGHELA 30 September 2005

Oscar was a sheer genius.

12 8 Reply
Kevin Straw 12 October 2009

'OFT have we trod the vales of Castaly/And heard sweet notes of sylvan music blown/From antique reeds to common folk unknown: /And often launched our bark upon that sea/Which the nine Muses hold in empery, /And ploughed free furrows through the wave and foam...' No we haven't Oscar! This is meaningless metaphor at its prosodic best. Wilde's poetry is always an exercise in being clever, showing off his poetic virtuosity and his learning. True feeling always escaped his pen, even in Reading gaol! Only a pagan steeped in his true belief in what we now call myth would understand this glittering but empty poem.

5 14 Reply
Raymond Farrell 08 July 2015

I tend to agree with you. You can tell he was schooled in the classics at university by this poem but it is as you said an empty poem. Maybe it reflects how he truly feels. It is hard to tell sometimes with OW.

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Cecilia Nicoletti 21 March 2007

Having a kind of intellectual love requires some intellect first. Oscar Wilde seems to have a sensitiviness a lot of woman will never have! This intellectaul love requieres intellect on the first place.

6 7 Reply
Ravi A 12 October 2010

A good sonnet. Wonderful images. Well woven.

6 5 Reply
Bjpafa Meragente 17 November 2020

So young and innocent, connected to those giants he actually could not ride. Although, your trying was superb, my dear. You are wonderfully designed, as a Rodin Character...

0 0 Reply
A DuDe 12 June 2018

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood poem

1 0 Reply
cuntmans 06 December 2017

i love succ i want succ......

6 2 Reply
* Sunprincess * 17 October 2015

...amazing poem with beautiful diction ★

2 1 Reply
Marques De Valia 12 October 2014

this is from a time when Western intellectuals sought to recapture the spirit of the poets of antiquity. here wilde is praising poetry itself by invoking the classical Hellenic poetic icons.

2 2 Reply
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Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Dublin / Ireland
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