This Theocritus summary begins with a question to a dead poet. Oscar Wilde’s villanelle speaks to Theocritus, the ancient Greek poet of Sicily who invented pastoral poetry about shepherds and the countryside, and asks whether he still remembers the island and the characters he wrote about. It is one of the best-known villanelles of the 19th century and a model example of the form. Read the full text of Theocritus: A Villanelle on Poetry Catalog.
Theocritus: A Villanelle Summary
Stanza 1: the question. “O singer of Persephone! / In the dim meadows desolate / Dost thou remember Sicily?” Persephone is queen of the underworld, so the “dim meadows” are the land of the dead, where Theocritus now lives.
Stanzas 2–5: Sicily goes on. Each stanza shows a scene from Theocritus’s poems, still happening without him. “Still through the ivy flits the bee / Where Amaryllis lies in state.” “Simætha calls on Hecate,” goddess of magic, to win back her lover. “Poor Polypheme,” the Cyclops, “bemoans his fate” because he loves a sea-nymph. “Young Daphnis challenges his mate” to a singing contest.
Stanza 6: waiting for him. “Slim Lacon keeps a goat for thee, / For thee the jocund shepherds wait.” The poem ends with both refrains together, the question left unanswered.
Key Facts
- Poet: Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
- Published: Poems (1881)
- Subject: Theocritus (3rd century BC), Greek pastoral poet from Sicily
- Form: villanelle, 19 lines, two rhymes, two refrains
- Speaker: a later poet addressing Theocritus
- Tone: wistful, gentle, musical
Themes
Memory and loss. The refrain “Dost thou remember Sicily?” is a question for the dead, so it carries longing.
Art outlives the artist. Theocritus is gone, but his characters are “still” alive. The word “Still” opens two stanzas.
The pastoral dream. Shepherds, goats, bees and the “laughing sea” make an ideal countryside that later poets kept returning to.
Love. Most of the characters are lovers, happy or unhappy: Simætha, Polypheme, Daphnis.
Key Lines Explained
O singer of Persephone!
Calling Theocritus the singer of the underworld’s queen places him among the dead and honors him at once.
Dost thou remember Sicily?
The second refrain, and the poem’s heart. It is a question no one can answer.
Still by the light and laughing sea
Poor Polypheme bemoans his fate;
The bright sea contrasts with the sad giant. “Polypheme” is Polyphemus, the Cyclops of Greek myth.
For thee the jocund shepherds wait;
“Jocund” means cheerful. The shepherds wait for a poet who will never come back.
Form, Meter and Rhyme
A villanelle has 19 lines: five tercets and a final quatrain, on only two rhymes (here “-ee” and “-ate”). Two refrains alternate as the last line of each tercet and come together at the end. Wilde writes in iambic tetrameter. The constant return of the refrains suits a poem about memory.
Theocritus: A Villanelle FAQ
What is a villanelle?
A 19-line poem with two repeating refrains and two rhymes, originally from French and Italian song.
Who was Theocritus?
An ancient Greek poet from Sicily, the founder of pastoral poetry.
Who is the “singer of Persephone”?
Theocritus himself, now among the dead in Persephone’s underworld.
Who are Amaryllis, Simætha and Daphnis?
Characters from Theocritus’s poems, the Idylls.