Fabien Dei Franchi: An Oscar Wilde Masterpiece Analyzed

I am currently reading Oscar Wilde’s most famous works as an attempt to broaden my cultural consciousness. The book is a collection of poems, each wildly different and varying in length. My top three favorites (not in order).

1. Fabien Dei Franchi

2. The True Knowledge

3. Requiescat

This is the first article in the 3 part series of analyzing these poems. In this edition, I’ll analyze poem number one, Fabien Dei Franchi.

Fabien Dei Franchi is a poem written in 1881 and first published with Wilde’s compilation, Poems. It is dedicated to his friend, Henry Irving. Irving was a star actor around the 1870-90s, and he performed many Shakespeare plays. Wilde takes note of this, and adds many double-entendres which cater to the Shakespearean theme.

The silent room, the heavy creeping shade,

The dead that travel fast, the opening door,

The murdered brother rising through the floor,

The ghost's white fingers on thy shoulders laid,

I enjoyed this first stanza because it sets the scene eerily. I believe that the murdered brother refers to Hamlet, because King Hamlet is murdered by his brother Claudius as an attempt to forcibly take the throne. Hamlet also hallucinates a ghost in Act I, and that is likely the one referred to in the verse.

And then the lonely duel in the glade,

The broken swords, the stifled scream, the gore,

Thy grand revengeful eyes when all is o'er,--

These things are well enough,--but thou wert made

These lines follow a similar pattern, and encompass the same creepy theme. The “lonely duel in the glade” is a reference to the book, The Corsican Brothers by Alexandre Dumas. This book is where the name Fabien Dei Franchi first occurs. The duel is simply between the two brothers, and the standoff is the dramatic conclusion to a journey seeking revenge. I notice a theme within the poem of tragedy plays and books being replicated in verse. The last line of this stanza is interesting–and I interpret it as you have been made satisfactorily (by a god), but you have the potential to be much more, as the creator meant you to be. This could be a call to action for the man being addressed by this poem, presumably Fabien Dei Franchi.

For more August creation! frenzied Lear

Should at thy bidding wander on the heath

With the shrill fool to mock him, Romeo

For thee should lure his love, and desperate fear

Pluck Richard's recreant dagger from its sheath--

Thou trumpet set for Shakespeare's lips to blow!

This final stanza encompasses the particular genius of the poem. “Frenzied Lear” is referencing the Shakespear play King Lear. Throughout the play, Lear gradually becomes more and more deranged. It seems the author is once again playing with the idea of creation or a creator, because Wilde makes a call for more “august” creation, or a living life at a higher level of quality. To “wander on the heath”, is to walk aimlessly and I interpreted it to mean a long walk of solidarity and reflection. It seems that this character is very unstable, similar to the many tragic characters Wilde brings up. He mentions Romeo, and for Fabien to “lure his love”. This essentially means that he should pull from the passionate and wild emotions that Romeo had for Juliet. The next line is referencing the play Richard III, and for Fabien to “pluck Richard’s recreant dagger”, and to be driven by fear and cowardice to commit acts of violence. During the last line which discusses a trumpet being “blown” by Shakespeare, Wilde made sure to address the reader (Fabien Dei Franchi), and tell him specifically to gather these crazy emotions, as a way to harness the violent power of Shakespeare's misunderstood, angsty, and unstable villains. It's a form of metaphorical praise and admiration that calls the subject a perfect instrument of expressing grandiose and bizarre ideas, similar to the ones written in the avant-garde and particularly appalling Shakespearean tragedies.

This poem stood out to me because of the comical and meaningful wordplay in relation to the Shakespearean plays, and a lovely novel by Alexandre Dumas. The tone is dramatic and the vivid description of each character lets the reader step into the mind of Fabien Dei Franchi, as he is being addressed by the author to let his emotions run wild. He is encouraging him to act further than the most insane villains and people in Shakespeare novels, and plays with the notion of creation. He projects that Fabien was created to, and can, eclipse the wildness of the Shakespearean plays. There is constant tension between the harrowing past, and a haunting but optimistic future of Fabien, and Wilde dictates this with such grace and linguistic ability. This is a magnificent piece of literature, and it represents the genius of Oscar Wilde flawlessly.

Sources:

https://www.poetryverse.com/oscar-wilde-poems/fabien-dei-franchi/poem-analysis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corsican_Brothers

https://nirakara.org/libweb/u2B848/243207/Set%20The%20Trumpet%20To%20Thy%20Mouth.pdf

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4808555

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Irving#