Apologia

Apologia

By Oscar Wilde

Is it thy will that I should wax and wane,
Barter my cloth of gold for hodden grey,
And at thy pleasure weave that web of pain
Whose brightest threads are each a wasted day?

Is it thy will–Love that I love so well–
That my Soul’s House should be a tortured spot
Wherein, like evil paramours, must dwell
The quenchless flame, the worm that dieth not?

Nay, if it be thy will I shall endure,
And sell ambition at the common mart,
And let dull failure be my vestiture,
And sorrow dig its grave within my heart.

Perchance it may be better so–at least
I have not made my heart a heart of stone,
Nor starved my boyhood of its goodly feast,
Nor walked where Beauty is a thing unknown.

Many a man hath done so; sought to fence
In straitened bonds the soul that should be free,
Trodden the dusty road of common sense,
While all the forest sang of liberty,

Not marking how the spotted hawk in flight
Passed on wide pinion through the lofty air,
To where the steep untrodden mountain height
Caught the last tresses of the Sun God’s hair.

Or how the little flower he trod upon,
The daisy, that white-feathered shield of gold,
Followed with wistful eyes the wandering sun
Content if once its leaves were aureoled.

But surely it is something to have been
The best belovèd for a little while,
To have walked hand in hand with Love, and seen
His purple wings flit once across thy smile.

Ay! though the gorgèd asp of passion feed
On my boy’s heart, yet have I burst the bars,
Stood face to face with Beauty, known indeed
The Love which moves the Sun and all the stars!

Summary of Apologia

• Popularity of “Apologia”: Written by the iconic Irish writer, playwright, and poet, Oscar Wilde, this short poem comprising nine stanzas first appeared in 1881. This poem presents a lover whose apology comprises a strange desire that if his beloved will that he would waste himself in this pain of love or that he experiences torture, then he would be able to endure. The popularity of the poem lies in his free expression of his love for his beloved and disregard for the costs.
• “Apologia” As a Representative of Love: The first person speaker of Oscar Wilde poses rhetorical questions about the will of his beloved. He is of the view that if his beloved has willed him to waste his body or that she has willed that his soul should become a tortured spot, then she is wrong. He can endure all these things and still desire to meet failure and bear sorrows in her love. In fact, he thinks that there could be a change in that he is more fortunate as he still feels love. In this love, he has experienced the charms of her beauty.
  Therefore, he is a unique person among several people who have not experienced such things due to their rational thinking based on common sense or that several others have treaded upon flowers disregarding everything related to love or beauty. However, it is better that there is love and that he has experienced it. He vows that he has a boy’s heart and has won the love that moves even the heavenly bodies.
• Major Themes in “Apologia”: Intense love, disregard for the beloved’s attitude, and blessings of love are the major thematic strands of “Apologia.” The intense love of the first person speaker appears in the very first two stanzas, where he poses serious rhetorical questions to his beloved, saying that if she has willed him to undergo extreme torture and suffering, he is ready, but then he would be better to have her love even in case he faces failure and confronts extreme situations. In fact, he disregards her strict attitude that he himself discloses and goes on to say that at least he would have the love that heavenly bodies would have experienced after undergoing such situations.
  He would also be better than several other sanguine figures who must not have experienced this love as well as this beauty. It is, in fact, the blessings of her love that he is going to such an extreme to face every untoward situation, including his failure, and experience the worst sort of sadness.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Apologia

Oscar Wilde used various literary devices to enhance the intended impact of this poem. Some of the major literary devices he uses here are as follows.

1. Anaphora: It is a device in which words or phrases are repeated in the beginnings of successive verses. The poem shows the use of anaphora, such as “And” in the third stanza and “Nor” in the fourth stanza.
2. Allusion: It is a reference to a literary, historical, and social event or incident, or figure to show its importance in the existing context. The poet referred to the Sun’s God in Greek mythology.
3. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /a/ in “Is it thy will that I should wax and wane” and the sound of /o/ in “That my Soul’s House should be a tortured spot.”
4. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /b/ in “be better” or “Best beloved.”
5. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /h/ and /m/ in “have not made my heart a heart of stone” and the sound of /m/ and /s/ in “Many a man hath done so; sought to fence”.
6. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Oscar Wilde used imagery in this poem, such as “I have not made my heart a heart of stone”, “Trodden the dusty road of common sense” and “Not marking how the spotted hawk in flight.”
7. Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poet used the metaphor of a forest compared to a singer and the sun to a wanderer.
8. Personifications: It means to attribute human traits to inanimate objects and ideas. The poem shows the use of personifications, such as the sun and the forest, as both have human attributes. Another personification is sorrow posed as a digger of graves.
9. Rhetorical Question: It is a rhetorical device in which a question is asked not to elicit an answer but to stress the main idea. The poet used the first two stanzas as rhetorical questions, such as the first one given below shows.

Is it thy will that I should wax and wane,
Barter my cloth of gold for hodden grey,
And at thy pleasure weave that web of pain
Whose brightest threads are each a wasted day?

10. Simile: It is an indirect comparison to clarify the meanings of one thing or idea. The poem shows the use of a simile where the poet’s Soul House is a tortured place like evil paramours.
11. Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols, such as pain, threads, spot, paramour, flames, and worms to show the extreme situation of love.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Apologia

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

1. Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows very good use of formal and poetic, and quizzical diction.
2. End Rhyme: End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. Oscar Wilde used end rhyme in this poem, such as wane/pain and grey/day.
3. Quatrain: It is a Persian stanza having four verses. Each stanza in this poem is a quatrain.
4. Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows ABAB, and this continues until the end of the poem.
5. Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are four stanzas in this poem, with each comprising four verses.
6. Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows a quizzical tone in the first two stanzas, comparative in the next three, and loving in the last one.

Quotes to be Used

The following lines are useful to quote about the blessings of love.

Ay! though the gorgèd asp of passion feed
On my boy’s heart, yet have I burst the bars,
Stood face to face with Beauty, known indeed
The Love which moves the Sun and all the stars!