The poem “Holy Week at Genoa” was published in 1881 on Wilde’s return to England, but Wilde probably wrote it in Genoa, where he may have attended the Anglican Church or Chiesa Anglicana
Poem Text: Holy Week at Genoa
The oranges on each o’erhanging spray
Burned as bright lamps of gold to shame the day;
Some startled bird with fluttering wings and fleet
Made snow of all the blossoms; at my feet
Like silver moons the pale narcissi lay:
And the curved waves that streaked the great green bay
Laughed i’ the sun, and life seemed very sweet.
Outside the young boy-priest passed singing clear,
‘Jesus the son of Mary has been slain,
O come and fill His Sepulchre with flowers.’
Ah, God! Ah, God! those dear Hellenic hours
Had drowned all memory of Thy bitter pain,
The Cross, the Crown, the Soldiers and the Spear.
The Poet
Oscar Wilde was a genius for a writer. With the ability to paint pictures with his words, he is still an inspiration to anyone who aspires to become a writer or to any prolific reader.
Wilde pens a poem that is along aesthetic lines. He talks of a journey that he writes of as a kind of pilgrimage.
HOLY WEEK AT GENOA Review
Wilde uses metaphors to describe the beauty of the place and his experiences there. Wilde seems spiritually moved and he rejoices in it.
This is a poem which is close to the genre of those wrote with God as his subject. However, it is a little different to read, although you might as well place it that genre of spirituality.
His works largely conclude that Wilde was a spiritual man. He wrote numerous poems about the glories of God and some other where he keeps the Almighty in mind, although the entire poem does not revolve entirely around Him.
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