The Sphinx

Η Sphinx is a long poem by Oscar Wilde, said to be an "unrivalled book of poetry, the quintessence of fin-de-siècle art".

It took Wilde about twenty years to complete it, until 1894, when he published it in a luxurious edition of limited editions, which today cost several thousand pounds sterling each! He would later write that "my original idea was to print only three copies: one for myself, one for the British Museum and one for Heaven. Of course, I had some doubts about the British Museum."

Its lyrics narrate a young man's encounter with the mysterious creature of Egypt, where her love journey through time unfolds, the greatness of the ancient gods who are not dead, as well as other questions of philosophy and aesthetics that occupied the Decline movement, in which the poem belongs to. 

Deeply influenced by Hysman, Gautier and Baudelaire, Wilde wanders through history, Symbolism and Aestheticism, writing what newspapers of the time said was 'one of the most remarkable works ever written by the hand of man. If such lines do not have the haunting, magical touch of a true poet, we do not know where to look for it in all English literature.'