The Nightingale and the Rose

Oscar Wilde
- Irish
- Aesthetic movement = art for art's sake
- Flamboyant
- Social critic
- "The Portait of Dorian Grey"
- 1891 gay affair (married, two sons)
- Two years in jail
- Dies penniless
- Story written for his two sons

Symbols
- Wisdom = Oak tree
- Unrequited love = Red rose
- Goodness + virtue = Nightingale
- Materialism = Girl (air hoad)
- Cynism (not appreciating beauty) = Student

Images
Personification: "But the Tree shook its head."
Simile: "Her voice was like water bubbling from a silver jar."
Metaphor: "Flame-coloured are his wings (...)"
Alliteration: "You must build it out of music by moonlight."
Assonance:
Consonance:


The Nightingale and the Rose - Writing Assignment

The Nightingale and the Rose, written by Oscar Wilde, is a story with a very strong meaning that makes the reader think about important values. I am going to write about the importance of love as a value and about the way the author's writing makes the story meaningful.

The Nightingale and the Rose makes the reader reflect on the importance of love. During the whole story, the Nightingale is trying to find a rose for the Student because she thinks he is a true lover; she even sacrifices her life for it. Yet, at the end, we find out that the young man's love was not real. According to me, there are two possibilities: either the author wanted to say that love is really important, or he wanted to say that it is not. Indeed, love might seem really important to one who focuses on what the Nightingale did. So to speak, the bird itself might be the true lover, the symbol of love. On the other hand, one could see the end as a proof that love is not necessarily worth everything we do for it. The author might have intended to tell the reader that love - even if it is indeed a beautiful thing - is only one value amongst many others.

Oscar Wilde uses numerous personifications to emphasize the images and their meaning. The words "Love", "Life", "Philosophy", "Death" etc. are capitalized to give the impression that they are more than simple words; they have a meaning far beyond what they say, because they are things we cannot fully understand or explain. "Nightingale", "Rose-tree", "Moon", "Oak-tree", etc. are also capitalized to put an emphasis on the symbolic meaning of the words. For instance, the Nightingale represents love and goodness; the Moon represents the purity of love, and so on. Instead of simply picturing a bird or a tree, the reader has in mind the whole image behind it.

In conclusion, it is obvious that The Nightingale and the Rose is a meaningful story that is meant to make the reader reflect on values.