Discover the exquisite and dark fairy tales of Oscar Wilde in ‘A House of Pomegranates’ and read the complete collection online for free.
Following the success of The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Oscar Wilde published A House of Pomegranates in 1891, a collection that plunges even deeper into the lush, tragic, and morally complex world of his decorative prose. These four long fairy tales—“The Young King,” “The Birthday of the Infanta,” “The Fisherman and his Soul,” and “The Star-Child”—are not for children in the conventional sense. They are ornate, symbolic, and often brutally dark fables written in Wilde’s most sumptuous aesthetic style, exploring themes of beauty, cruelty, sacrifice, and the redemption found through suffering and love.
Wilde, at the height of his fame and aesthetic philosophy, uses the fairy tale form to critique social inequality, hollow aristocracy, and the price of true beauty. In “The Young King,” a shepherd-born monarch’s dreams reveal the human suffering behind his opulent regalia. “The Birthday of the Infanta” is a devastating study of the cruelty inherent in privileged innocence, centered on a dwarf who dies of a broken heart. “The Fisherman and his Soul” is a sprawling, poetic tale of a man who casts away his soul to love a mermaid, only to embark on a world-spanning quest to reclaim it. Each story is a meticulously crafted jewel, saturated with vivid imagery and a pervasive melancholy.
A House of Pomegranates showcases Wilde’s belief that “all art is quite useless” in the best sense—it exists for its own beauty and truth. The prose is deliberately artificial, rhythmic, and heavy with symbolism, like a tapestry or a stained-glass window come to life. The pomegranate of the title, a symbol of both fertility and the underworld, of beauty and bloody sacrifice, perfectly encapsulates the collection’s duality: surface splendor masking profound, often painful, truths.
On this page, you can immerse yourself in Wilde’s gorgeous and haunting imagination. We offer the complete 1891 collection for online reading.
Book Info
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | A House of Pomegranates |
| Author | Oscar Wilde |
| Year of Publication | 1891 |
| Genre | Fairy Tales, Literary Fiction, Aestheticism |
| Language | English (Original) |
| Legal Status | Public Domain |
| Format | Online Reading |
Read A House of Pomegranates Online
Enter a world of symbolic splendor. Begin your journey with the first of Wilde’s exquisite tales, presented interactively below.
This preview offers a taste of Wilde’s decadent prose, but the full collection—with all four of its profound and beautifully tragic stories—is available in the complete text for our subscribers.
A subscription unlocks this gem of aesthetic literature and our entire library of classic short fiction. Revel in language crafted for pure beauty and insight.
About A House of Pomegranates
These tales represent the pinnacle of Wilde’s aestheticism, where moral lessons are inseparable from sensual experience and beauty is both a virtue and a trap.
“The Young King”: The Conscience of Aesthetics
This tale directly confronts Wilde’s own philosophy. The young king’s transformation from a lover of beautiful objects to a wearer of humble garments after witnessing their human cost is a parable about social responsibility. It suggests that true aesthetic sensitivity cannot be divorced from empathy and ethical awareness.
“The Birthday of the Infanta”: The Anatomy of Cruelty
A masterpiece of dramatic irony and heartbreak. The infanta and her court find the dwarf’s love and subsequent death merely entertaining. Wilde dissects how privilege can create emotional blindness, rendering its subjects incapable of recognizing true humanity or suffering in those deemed “other.” The dwarf’s tragedy is that he mistakes their cruelty for affection.
“The Fisherman and his Soul”: A Gothic Romance
The longest tale, it reads like a mystical odyssey. Exploring the Platonic idea of the tripartite soul (body, spirit, and soul), it follows the fisherman’s struggle to reunite with his discarded soul, which has become wicked in its separation. It is a deep exploration of love’s power, the nature of evil, and the necessity of integration for wholeness.
“The Star-Child”: A Fairy Tale of Penance
A story of radical transformation through suffering. The beautiful but arrogant Star-Child is punished with ugliness and must undertake a journey of humility and compassion to regain his form and find his true parents. It is Wilde’s most Christian-flavored tale, emphasizing redemption earned through empathy for the outcast and the poor.
Style as Substance
In these tales, the elaborate style is the point. Wilde’s descriptions of fabrics, jewels, gardens, and sea caves are lavish set-pieces. This decorative language isn’t mere ornament; it creates a world where beauty is a tangible, almost oppressive force. The contrast between this gorgeous surface and the often-violent or sorrowful events of the plot creates a unique, unsettling tension.
Why Read A House of Pomegranates Today?
These stories challenge the modern reader to slow down and savor language. In an age of minimalist prose, Wilde’s extravagant style is a refreshing and demanding pleasure. The themes—social justice, the perils of narcissism, the search for identity, the cost of love—are eternally relevant.
They are also profoundly moving works of art. To read A House of Pomegranates is to be transported to a world where every line is polished to a gem-like brilliance, and where beauty, in all its terrifying and glorious forms, is the highest law.
FAQ
Can I read A House of Pomegranates for free?
Yes, you can read the first tale for free via our interactive preview. Access to the complete collection of four stories requires a subscription.
Are these stories for children?
They are often categorized as children’s literature, but their sophisticated themes, complex morality, and dense, poetic prose make them more suitable for older readers and adults. They are literary fairy tales in the tradition of Hans Christian Andersen.
What is the connection to Wilde’s Salome?
The same aesthetic of decadence, biblical/medieval settings, and fascination with beauty, cruelty, and forbidden desire links this collection to his famous play. Both works come from the same period of his artistic peak.
Did Wilde illustrate this book?
The original edition featured illustrations by Jacomb Hood and Charles Ricketts, which Wilde oversaw closely. He considered the book’s design and illustrations integral to the total work of art.
Can I read it on my phone?
Yes. While the prose is rich, the story lengths are manageable for reading on a smartphone or tablet, allowing you to appreciate Wilde’s sentences in brief, luxurious sittings.