Oscar Wilde – Interesting Literature

A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Remarkable Rocket’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Remarkable Rocket’ is one of the fairy tales for children written by the Irish author Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). It was published in the 1888 collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales.

‘The Remarkable Rocket’ is about a firework which is set to be let off as part of the spectacular wedding celebrations held in honour of a prince and princess, but because he cries and makes himself damp, he doesn’t go off. Instead, he is set off by two boys and his great explosion is witnessed by no one.

A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Oscar Wilde’s short story ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ appeared in the same year that Sherlock Holmes made his debut appearance in print, and curiously, both stories feature a man with an uncanny ability to read the details of people’s lives from very small details. But unlike Conan Doyle’s consulting detective, Mr Podgers the cheiromancer in ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ uses people’s palms to divine the secrets of their personalities, and to predict their futures.

The True Meaning of ‘We Are All In The Gutter, But Some Of Us Are Looking At The Stars’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars’: this oft-quoted line from Oscar Wilde has got to be one of his most widely misinterpreted. The quip was not spoken by Wilde during conversation, as so many of his witty lines were. Instead, ‘we are all in the gutter’ is uttered by one of Wilde’s characters in his play, Lady Windermere’s Fan. But what is the meaning of this pithy and strangely beautiful line, which virtually every other website subtly but dramatically misreads?

A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ is a fairy tale by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), included in his 1888 collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales. Whereas ‘The Selfish Giant’ (from the same collection) deals with Christian love and the title story is about socialism and kindness towards others in society, ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ is about romantic love.

A Summary and Analysis of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Of all of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales for children, ‘The Selfish Giant’ has the strongest Christian symbolism and is clearly meant to be read and analysed as an allegory for Christian love. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the story and its meaning and imagery. You can read ‘The Selfish Giant’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of the tale below.