"Symphony in Yellow" by Oscar Wilde

 

Symphony in Yellow

An omnibus across the bridge

Crawls like a yellow butterfly

And, here and there, a passer-by

Shows like a little restless midge.

 

Big barges full of yellow hay

Are moored against the shadowy wharf,

And, like a yellow silken scarf,

The thick fog hangs along the quay.

 

The yellow leaves begin to fade

And flutter from the Temple elms,

And at my feet the pale green Thames

Lies like a rod of rippled jade.

Enjoy the poem with beautiful music.

poem video👇

https://youtu.be/MRtFksjJ1ok

Who wrote the poem "Symphony in Yellow"?

Oscar Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900)

Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet, playwright, and journalist. He attended Trinity College and Oxford University and became involved in the newly emerging aesthetic movement. His works include poetry, novels, and plays. His plays in particular became extremely popular in London in the 1890s. He married Constance Lloyd in 1884 and had two sons. At the pinnacle of his success, he began a homosexual affair with Lord Alfred Douglas and was arrested and tried for gross indecency. He was convicted and sentenced to two years’ hard labor, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. He was released with his health and reputation ruined and left for France and never returned. He soon died of meningitis in 1900 at the age of 46.

"Symphony in Yellow" explanation

In the poem, the speaker describes a mundane and yet colorful and beautiful scenery of a wharf around the Thames River. The poem presents vivid images, almost like a painting. Wide wrote this poem in 1889, strongly influenced by the Aesthetic movement.