This is a fairy tale published by Oscar Wilde in 1888 in a collection of stories for children called 'The Happy Prince and Other Tales'. However, this is much more than a short piece of writing for children; it raises issues of loyalty, beliefs, values, friendship and, perhaps above all, love.
    
     Click here to read and download The Nightingale and the Rose
    
     Looking forward to reading your comments
     Cheers - Chris

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Hi Chris,
     I would like to say that LOVE is a very good thing, but not easy to have it from somebody else. It demands more exercices.
     Love is blind, do you accept it?
    
     I am coming back with more comments about the text.

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Hi Chris and all,
     I have just finished reading this very 'lovely' story; I feel a bit sad for the nightingale; She "perfected love with her death" for an already dead-hearted girl who cares for jewels .
     In my view, this short story is more than a tale; it's a dialogue between the "heart" and the "mind", between "love" and "logic", between the "unpractical" and the "practical".
     I like the way Oscar Wilde ,the fabulist, makes animals and nature talk, the humanizing of roses,trees and birds creates a sort of 'pathetic fallacy' that makes us feel a sort of communion with nature we are getting away of in these days of atrocities and wars, alas.
     This parable, the style of Jean De LaFontaine, Bidapai...is a loud cry for the morals and values that we are in dire need of....

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Hi Chris and all!
     What has really captured me about this tale is the nightingale´s compromise and her further sacrificing herself in the name of love vs. the uncompromising nature of human beings as regards feelings.

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Dear All,
    
     Greetings to all my colleagues on board for the new year!
    
     "Why, what a wonderful piece of luck!" said the student when he found the red rose that was the only one thing that could make his object of love accept his heart. Then, when it was time to offer the rose to the object of love, he was turned down. And the Nightingale died for the rose in trying to save the student from the pain he felt for his love! That was his time to learn there's no love if you're not loved, for the girl loved someone else who has power, silver buckles and jewels that cost far more than rose, like she was setting a price for her love (Is love money or power?) the same like the Nightingale which loved him and died for getting him the so wanted rose. And the Nightingale was loved by it's friends, the trees and all the nature like each of us is loved by someone, even if one loves someone else like a chain.
    
     I love that the story takes us into metaphysics, the nature of existence, to teach us the reality about existence is very complex all the world around. It was the chance to study my metaphisics and must say thanks for this fairy but teaching short story!
    
     Great it has a place for us readers: " So he returned to his room and pulled out a great dusty book, and began to read." It was like this line was adressed to me as I have to go back now and read something. I'll see to love if I have the time!
    
     Thank you
    
     Tanguene

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Hello Chris, Tanguene & All Readers
    
     Firstly, our cordial greetings to you All gathered here.
    
     We believe that True Love shouldn't impose any conditions! It should be genuine and unpretentious.
    
     In this fable we've once again learnt that some animals, similarly to some people's behaviour, kindly react to make others happier. This has been the pure intention of the Nightingale. She always sounded very sensitive, understanding "the secret of the Student's sorrow." That's why she flew over and over, inexhaustibly, so as to help the young Student.
     I have appreciated immensely the Nightingale's speech in favour of Life, its joys and blessings as Love.
    
     "Bitter, bitter was the pain, and wilder and wilder grew her song, for she sang of the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb." This thought, I think, has much of a whole spiritual dimension, it has much of similar to The Lord's sacrifice for mankind salvation. So has the Nightingale's sacrifice towards the young Student's Love salvation.
    
     However, Man himself ends up being fragile, keeps committing mistakes and in a vicious circle seeks to redeem himself through improving his knowledge! (A very positive attitude, in our view.) "I shall go back to Philosophy and study Metaphysics"...
    
     Love, Health and Peace to you All in 2009!
     Cheers!
    
     Maria

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“Surely Love is a wonderful thing!” but tricky to understand.
    
     I would like to say that: It is really tough to explain this tricky feeling “love”. The Nightingale and the Rose, explains what happens in the real life about love. It is not easy to find reciprocal in love. For example, in most cases of marriage, only one loves more than another or only one suffers more than another. Love becomes a wonderful thing when there is a reciprocal.
    
     The young student loves more the professor’s daughter who asked him to find first a Red Rose. Difficult task for the boy, but he accepted to bring it to her because of LOVE. She did not love the boy and for that she preferred to give him a hard task.
     However, Nightingale was also suffering for him (page 1, paragraph 5), she is complaining for her love to him who cannot feel the same. For that people say LOVE is blind, it follows only one way, does not turn to look around may be it can find another way. It accepts to suffer and at the end the result is negative. But somebody says that if LOVE is blind, the person who loves is not blind. He can see and understand the love he/she is feeling for somebody else.
    
     The young student was disappointed with his red rose in the hands by the same girl who asked it, for lack of love.
    
     This story of love comes from the remote time, even in the bible. We can see that God loves the world and gave his only Son who was killed by the same people. John 3.16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,…” and Luke 23.18 “ the whole crowd cried out: kill him…”
     Many men/women/young people/old people are suffering and accept death for LOVE. I think: only God could explain it better.

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Hi Chris, Mostafa, Pilear, Tanguene and all,
     I have to admit that my reaction to the story was
     'Yuck'- sympathy with the little Lizard.
     '"For a red rose?" they cried; "how very ridiculous!" and the little Lizard, who was something of a cynic, laughed outright. '
     Nice discussion going on, but since everybody is admiring the story and I don't like it, will I just be a wet blanket? Is it OK to dislike what's given to us,or do we only comment on what we like?
    
     OK, so let's look at something more interesting than the story itself (in my view)- very near the end.
    
     ""She has form," he said to himself, as he walked away through the grove--"that cannot be denied to her; but has she got feeling? I am afraid not. In fact, she is like most artists; she is all style, without any sincerity. She would not sacrifice herself for others. She thinks merely of music, and everybody knows that the arts are selfish. Still, it must be admitted that she has some beautiful notes in her voice. What a pity it is that they do not mean anything, or do any practical good." And he went into his room, and lay down on his little pallet-bed, and began to think of his love; and, after a time, he fell asleep. "
    
     All style- and pretty, selfish words- and a sentimentality that surely can't be sincere. That's my verdict.
     What about a REAL fairly story- something by Hans Christian Anderson, perhaps- to follow this? Or Angela Carter?
     In this post modern age of voices, fairy stories are interesting. Let's have more of them!

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Oh, love!
     I am really sure that the bird had a kind heart as well as the boy. but i dont see love here!
     the boy yeah, he loved, but the girl... i think she was still on the way to learn what really love is!
    
     this story seems to show that sometimes we love someone and this one loves someone else and, as its clear in this text, i dont think its all about love at all! if its about love, its also about money, fortune, power and prestige. are these things the meaning of love? NO. for some men and women, it is! for the girl character of this text, it is, also! and, the experience shows that those who seek love, find it, and those who seek prestige, in the name of love, they end up rich yeah, but deep inside their hearts nothing is real at all!
    
     so, i think that whenever we dig love, we should make sure we have the same love in turn and, if not, we just need to be happy with what we have, which, for this boys, are the dusty books! Well, its better, many Books are better than some friends and false lovers!
    
     now, let me go and meet my friend. who? my only friend, to whom iam the only friend. but... what a h...? wait! iam talking about my book!
    
     Mon Ami

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Hi all
     So many interesting comments here that it is hard to decide what to write about. I think I'll need many posts to do so... :)
    
     First I'd like to say to Sara that I loved her question. Is it necessary to like a story to comment on it?
     Not really, Sara. Many times great discussions can come from something that we don't like, that annoy or trouble us. I believe it can even make the discussion more enriching and interesting, especially if we start asking ourselves why we don't like it :)
    
     Then love...what is love? People have been asking this question for centuries and I really doubt we will ever have a single answer. Is there love in this story? I'm not sure. The girl certainly doesn't love but I'm really sceptical of the boy's feelings. What love is this that indulges itself in narcisistically looking at itself and moaning about what he does have without doing anything for it?
    
     'A red rose. What a piece of luck!' This is blindness and selfishness. Nothing that is precious comes without a sacrifice of some sort made by someone. However, he himself hasn't sacrificed anything for his 'love' and he is very quick to shake off the disappointment and go back to his usual business.
    
     On the other hand, does the nightingale love? Maybe yes, but was it love for the boy or for the act of aesthetic creation? As an artist , what drives the nightingale: the love for the others for whom you create art or the object of your creation?
    
     Looking forward to your comments.
     Chris

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Hi all,
     Our varied responses to the text is but a clear proof that the text is no longer Oscar Wilde's. It's now a part of our intimate belongings that each of us cherish in his/her own way.Here I venture to say that I didn't see what Chris saw in the student's and the nightingale's narcissism and selfishness; may be because I was blurred by appearence.
     Chris' psychological reading of the colours was pertinent and admirable!

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Hi Everybody!
     I think this is a story about human selfishness, the boy and the girl do not love anyone but themselves, the interests of the girl are well-described from the very beginning, as for the boy, as Chris says, he does nothing but sit and cry, he does not sacrifice anything at all. The bird thinks that her life is nothing when compared to the love the student feels, her death then becomes a useless act of bravery, her sacrifice is useless, and, if we consider her as an artist in love with the object of her creation then the story becomes an act of sheer selfishness on the part of all the characters involved?
     Pilar

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Hello
    
     First, I' de like to say that this fairytale is quite short and it doesn't look like a story for kids. There's a great symbolism all around the nightingale, the thorn, the heart and the blood. As some of you pointed out, it surely reminds us The Lord's sacrifice for mankind. The nightingale sacrificed herself for Love.
     I believe neither the student or the girl know what love is. The nightingale may know what it is for she was the only one who sacrificed herself. I think she represents nature, the most pure of things. Although the student "knows everything" because he read about it, he really does not know (there are things that cannot be learnt from books). Here we see nature vs. culture.
     I guess that the true answer to the deepest questions of life (and Love is indeed one) is not in books. We must look inside our heart (and so did the nightingale).
     I think this tale is all about love: the girl's love for jewels, the boy's love for knowledge ( his comfort comes from books) and the nightingale's love for feeling. I guess there are many kinds of love. Of couse, it is clear which love we are willing to make most sacrifice for.
    
     Do you agree with me?
    
     Cheers
    
     Claraisa

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wow, many views around this story! this is nice, its literature...
    
     the good thing about literature is that it allows many interpretations, but not all...
    
     anyway, i think this story is really interesting!
    
     Mon Ami

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Dear All,
    
     I was quite moved by Saraw determination to read what one didn't like, and the explanation Chris gives about it. I was also moved by all the comments which have something to make my eye blink, I mean ideas like "the true love happens between the Nightingale and the rose " (it's seems to be the climax) which some colleagues took like the sacrifice in John 3:16 (Pasi Nova). But there's also an interesting quote: "Love is a wonderful thing" said the Nightingale and Maria helped me a lot in trying to read the Nightingale good speeches about love.
    
     My view is that this story is philosophical, for example, the student claims to "have read all that the wise men have written" but that couldn't save him from suffering, it's like in Ecclesiasts in the bible. His life is illusion! The Nightingale appreciates love and life but then sacrifices its life for an emotion, and the lizzard satarizes all the act. The Nightingale understands love cannot be sold but still sacrifices itself for the rose which was the coin for the student to buy love, the love the girl was selling. the story gets complex and the setting and characters of this story are peculiar.
    
     The author shows love for nature, but he takes us into analuzyng philosophy, read:"What a silly thing Love is," said the Student as he walked away. "It is not half as useful as Logic, for it does not prove anything, and it is always telling one of things that are not going to happen, and making one believe things that are not true. In fact, it is quite unpractical, and, as in this age to be practical is everything, I shall go back to Philosophy and study Metaphysics."
    
     Thanks
    
     Tanguene

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Hi everyone
    
     Mostafa mentioned colours and I think if we would choose a colour for this tale it would almost certainly be red - red is the rose, the blood and the colour of passion. Perhpas we should consider drawing a distinction here between love & passion? Are they the same? Are they different? Why??
    
     Another thing I think it is interesting is Wilde's treatment of a very old topos - the rose. The red rose as a symbol of love and passion is as old as the hills. Poets frequently personify roses or tranform their lovers in roses using simile and methaphor. Wilde tranforms the rose in an almost human creation, since the nightingale is personalified itself.
    
     Does it mean that romantic love is actually a human invention? The result of our artistic creativity and a cultural product?
    
     So many questions for such short a tale :)
     Chris

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First of all, a huge thanks to Chris for including this lovely story in our discussion! Not only is Oscar Wilde a personal favourite, but the story itself… well, I have loved it since childhood when I read it first, although now I understand it better. I believe as a child what attracted me most about it is the immense romantic imagination, the touch of fantasy and the wonderful descriptions in the florid language. Beautiful is understated!
    
     So we all seem to agree that the story revolves around the concept of love… platonic love, materialistic love, unrequited love, true love, and so on. It is perhaps not possible to define love, and I especially, am hardly qualified enough to attempt to. The Student is pathetically restricted by bookish knowledge in his perspective, “for he only knew the things that are written down in books”, so much so that the first sight he has of the beautiful rose is occasioned by the inane comment “It is so beautiful that I am sure it has a long Latin name”. The daughter of the Professor is, of course, what Clifton Snider (‘On the Loom of Sorrow’) would term “a sort of negative female dandy”. The Nightingale is perhaps the only character that gets closest to the heart of the story when she says “Surely Love is a wonderful thing… Love is better than Life”. In fact, Oscar Wilde himself commented in a letter to Thomas Hutchinson in 1888: “The nightingale is the true lover, if there is one. She, at least, is Romance, and the Student and the girl are, like most of us, unworthy of Romance. So, at least, it seems to me…” What I find interesting here is how Wilde leaves the ground open for further discussion and debate about the illusive or chimeric nature of true love when he says “if there is one”.
    
     There obviously exists a romantic connection between love and sacrifice, reminiscent of Keats and Swinburne, demonstrated by the Nightingale here. It seems to me that there exists a bond of love between the bird and the red rose tree that is greater than any other in the story. It is a kind of unquestioning love, but one which comes closest to fulfillment. The rose is created in a manner which appears to be a physical act of love, and if love be the initial of creation, then the supreme expression of love in this story is possibly the creation of the rose by the nightingale as well as the passive tree. There is in fact an ancient Persian legend about the nightingale falling in love with the rose and singing to it until she collapsed exhausted on its thorns, thereby staining it red with her life's blood. (The way Wilde incorporates here lends a delightful touch, is not it?) The story is even titled 'the Nightingale and the Rose'!
    
     I find Chris’s observation quite interesting in this context… the nightingale is definitely an artist, a Romantic artist, if you will. She interprets things through her own emotions, for as Wilde himself had remarked, “No great artist ever sees things as they really are.” The fact that the Student is unable to understand the Nightingale is further proof not only of his insensitivity but also of the gulf between the Romantic artist and the philistine middle class. To borrow the concluding words from Rodney Shewan, 'The Nightingale and the Rose' is essentially an ironic tale of “misplaced romantic passion and its tragic incommunicability”.

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Thank you SOMDUTTA for this enriching comment from your post, it's helpeful and I see the benefits I have of being a member of a wide reading group like this, where I have the opportunity of sharing the reading and comments with others. It's a wonderful thing in itself. In fact, the quottes by the author and Rodney Shewan are guides to understanding the ironic style of the story. and my eyebrows raise. The singing of a bird is a wonderful thing too to witness from nature. Do I think the Nightingale deserved life? And I thank that you stress that true love might be the one between the nightingale and the rose tree! Love is also a painful thing, "if there's one"!
    
     Tanguene

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Now its done! Somduta has given us the key! thanks a lot! As Tanguene said, its worthwhile sharing these stories!
    
     Well, literature sometimes is just like a mirror and Oscar Wilde saw nothing but absence of love in it, or maybe he did not find one. Oh man, how do you know that! Eh, its literature! Its just a feeling we have in front of a mirror! Well, we need to know his biography to get into what iam trying to mean! Iam not sure as well!
    
     For those who are really lovers, its difficult to tell them there not even one love. Oh yeah, between the boy and the girl in the story, there was not even one, but in this real life, somewhere in the world, maybe in our hersts, we do have "One Love"! How and when to find it?, its up to you!
    
     Mon Ami

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Hi everyone
    
     There is another aspect is this story that I'd like to bring up to dscussion. Some of you have already touched on it but perhaps we could go a bit deeper.
    
     I mean, this bipolar opposition between 'life & literature' that could be symbolised in the story by the student's attitude to knowledge and his reliance on books to make meaning of life. I find it hard to believe Wilde would be so simplistic and I can only imagine irony behind his words. I think the problem with is not in the books themselves but in the fact that the student, in spite of his erudition, cannot really learn from them and fails to make the connection between 'theory & practice'.
    
     Knowledge in his hands is as dead as the rose and I suppose he will never be able to translate his metaphysics in a better understanding of life.
    
     Cheers - Chris

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@ Tanguene: It is indeed fascinating to interact and communicate with people from all over the world, especially over such varied and thought-provoking issues! I do find quotable quotes very interesting and, well, delightful. I love them! In fact, often even some extraneous quote by an artist (including the literary ones :) may prove decisive in the interpretation of his or her work(s), yielding remarkable results along the way.
    
     @ Mon Ami: Now that you speak of mirrors, it almost seems as if Wilde has held up an enchanting mirror through his story to reflect real life and society (ref. the contemporary chasm between the Romantic and the Philistine). What do you think?
     As to love, yes I feel the least we can do is have faith and believe in that ‘one love’ which makes life worthwhile and gives us hope and purpose. Love is, after all, the star to every wandering bark, whose worth's unknown, although its height may be taken.
    
     @Chris: I agree; life and literature need not necessarily be opposed to each other, isn’t literature often the reflection of life itself? What about writers like Mark Twain and Henry James…aren’t they particularly known for their realism?
    
     I think the student fails to understand that although his books are the carriers of the knowledge and wisdom of life, they do not carry life itself. It is like a person forgetting to take off his reading glasses when he goes out in the sun for a jog or a picnic. Wilde had actually voiced his views about life vis-à-vis literature openly elsewhere; he said that literature always anticipates life, and it does not copy it, but moulds it to its purpose.

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Hi Somdutta and All
    
     Good metaphor. Indeed, literature does not copy life; it translates it and creates it.
    
     Cheers - Chris

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