An Explication of Oscar Wilde's Panthea

Panthea by Oscar Wilde advocates for the pursuit of passion and enjoyment in youth, implying that people are often too quick to give them away in their search for professionalism and maturity. “I am too young to live without desire,” Wilde writes. “Too young art thou to waste this summer night/Asking those idle questions which of old/Man sought of seer and oracle, and no reply was told.” His association of desire and curiosity with youth suggests a fondness for young and adventurous lifestyles in the rapidly developing world of the late 19th century. In the second stanza, Wilde states that “wisdom is a childless heritage,” indicating that the inheritance of knowledge and experience marks man’s transition from childhood to adulthood. Wilde also claims that the young should not “vex thy soul with dead philosophy,” showing that he disliked the philosophical and idealistic movements of late 19th century Britain. Later in the poem, Wilde uses subtle literary references to enhance the imagery and emotion of his work. His description of the “envious, pale moon” in the third stanza is a clear allusion to a nearly identical line in Romeo and Juliet, a tale of forbidden love and passion, values not unlike those he encourages in Panthea. As Wilde describes the “boyish limbs in the water,” he is likely referencing Ganymede, the character from Greek mythology. Ganymede was an exuberant young lover of Zeus’s, and he embodied many of the characteristics that Wilde highlighted in his work.



Panthea is fairly standard of late 19th century British symbolist poetry. Its rejection of reality and unhappiness is apparent, and its traditional language, references to the arts, and vivid imagery are typical of the era. The theme of the poem that differs from traditional work during the symbolist movement is its anti-religious sentiment. Wilde denounces Christianity, suggesting that prayer and repentance are tiresome, pointless practices. Referencing the youthful, often foolish behavior of the deities of Greek mythology, Wilde argues that the practice of religion must progress and be replaced by the practice of passion. The tranquility that religious expression brings is not representative of the necessary difficulties of life. Pain and loneliness, Wilde states, are the inherently human emotions that all must experience to truly be one with nature and the surrounding world. In one of the final stanzas, it is said that “without life's conscious torturing pain, we will never feel the sun… the soul earth’s earliest conqueror becomes earth’s last great prey.”