poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

This poem is just utter beauty distilled into words. I'm leaving my country for a year and the final stanza moves me tears when thinking of loved ones. Brilliant.

First of all, the title of the poem is ironic, notice that HER VOICE is never heard in the poem.
In fact, the only reference to the possibility of her speaking in in lines 28-29. It appears, however, that Wilde's "eternity" did not last
very long. He is, like the "wild bee" that "reels from bough to bough," longing to roam, to see other things,
perhaps to make promises to other women.
It is also ironic that he chooses to describe love as a
spider's web [line 14]. If that wild bee got caught in
a spider's web, it would not long be free to roam. In fact,
the web would eventually lead to the bee's death. Love,
Wilde is saying, is a trap -- a web that first stifles and then kills.
You ought to make a commentary on the fickleness of men as evidenced in this poem. I'm reminded of the song from the musical "The King and I," in which the king proclaims that men are like bees that must go from flower to flower [women]. But never does a flower [a woman] go from bee to bee to bee. It's man's nature to roam and NOT to make a commitment.