Selected Poems

The Bloomsbury Classic Series has established itself as the preeminent hardcover poetry and literary collection -- books to be cherished, savored, and given on special occasions.To this series we now add two works by Oscar Wilde to herald the coming centennary of his death in Paris, at the age of 46, in 1900. Oscar Wilde: Selected Poems collects 33 of Wilde's finest poems, many of which were first published in 1881 in a book called Poems. Also included is The Ballad of Reading Jail, written after his friendship with Alfred Douglas, and his imprisonment in 1895 for homosexual offences. Oscar Wilde: The Fisherman and His Soul and Other Fairy Tales collects ten of Wilde's finest fairy tales into one magical volume. Culled from The Happy Prince and The House Of Pomegranates, these stories were first read to Wilde's sons and all are mesmerizing and heart-breaking to the end. True gems, these two Wilde volumes now bring to 12 the number of Bloomsbury Classics that St. Martin's has made available for years to come.