"Üzümü biz çiğniyoruz şarabı başkaları içiyor. Ekini biz ekiyoruz sofralarımız bomboş kalıyor. Bizim de zincirlerimiz vardır fakat kimse görmez. Köleyiz fakat herkes bize özgürsünüz, der."
...
“Ama aşkın modası geçti artık, şairler öldürdü aşkı. Aşk hakkında o kadar çok şey yazdılar ki, kimse onlara inanmaz oldu; bence çok normal. Gerçek âşık acı çeker ve susar..."

i don't think i've ever used the word "exquisite" before, especially in relation to anyone's writing, but the writing in these stories really is exquisite. the stories themselves are flawlessly conceived and executed; every other line a perfect quotable paradox. my only complaint is that it all got a little claustrophobic after all. so perfect, so finely-wrought, so heartbreakingly sad, so clever... it was all just a little bit too just-so. there are no car chases, no fistfights, no people yelling in the streets, no drunks screaming off bridges into the night... for all the talk of obscenity and decadence that surrounds wilde's name, he really is an exceedingly tasteful and polite writer. sorta made me want to go bowling.

best parts: the half-page prose poem "the artist," the scooby-dooish "canterville ghost," and this horrifying tale about a little bird who presses its breast against a thorn in order to make the roses red...

3.75/5
I really enjoyed Wilde's short stories and had a fantastic time reading all of them. Here are my rambling thoughts on all the stories. I didn't rate the poems in prose I've read because they were really short, and, to be honest, I didn't feel like rating them.
Don't read any further because there are many many spoilers here

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
3/5
This is the first short story from Wilde that I've ever read and I quite enjoyed it, though, I must say it wasn't the best short story I've read.
I like how Lord Arthur kept trying to murder someone, but his plans kept failing. When he did manage to kill someone, it was revealed that he [Mr. Podgers] was an imposter all along.

The Sphinx without a Secret
3.5/5
It was a solid read for me, though it felt a little flat to me because I expected more than I got.
It was a really short story about the narrators old friend Lord Murchison, who met a woman, Lady Alroy, with whom he fell in love with. But the secrecy surrounding her made him suspicious of her. He wanted to uncover her secrets, but after a fight, he went to Norway. In the meantime, Lady Alroy caught a cold and died of congestion of the lungs. Plagued by sorrow, he decided to uncover her secret and found out there is none. After telling his story to the narrator, he asks him if he thinks there is a secret, which he [the narrator] negates. He thinks that Lady Alroy had a passion for secrecy and a mania for mystery, but ultimately was a Sphinx without a secret.

The Canterville Ghost
4.5/5
I really liked this story. It combines horror with comedy and I quite enjoyed it. All the past residents of Canterville are frightened by the ghost and have mostly died, because of suicide, murder or something else. The Otis family, though, isn't scared of the ghost, making him feel insulted and disrespected lol, which is why he wants vengeance.
Throughout the story the ghost fails to frighten the family and I found it very funny how he was portrayed, especially since he's supposed to be this frightening creature haunting the Canterville Chase, but ultimately is being ridiculed. He became depressed I think? and asked Virgina to help him lift the curse off of him, which she did. After a long search for her, she was found and told everybody that the ghost, Sir Simon has finally died after haunting Canterville Chase for 300 years. At the end she and her lover marry and live happily ever after.

The Model Millionaire
5/5
I really liked the message in this short story. It shows how being good-hearted and empathetic will pay in the end and that you don't need to have a lot of money to be happy.

The Happy Prince
4.5/5
Lovely story about the Happy Prince, who is now a statue and sees the misery of his people in the city. Being deeply influenced by them, he cries everyday until a Swallow comes along who needs shelter for the night. The Happy Prince asks him to give a seamstress his ruby to which the Swallow agrees. After doing the good deed he wants to go to Egypt for the winter, but the Happy Prince wants him to stay for another night, which he does. After giving the poor two of his blue sapphire eyes, the Prince will be forever blind, which is why the Swallow decides to stay with him. Day after day they give the poor a golden leaf, of which the Happy Prince is made of. Now he isn't a beautiful statue and the bird, suffering from the cold weather is going to die and kisses the Happy Prince goodbye, whereupon the Happy Prince's heart made of lead breaks. Now, the mayor wants to melt the statue, but the heart will not melt, which is why he throws it away with the bird.
God asks one of his angels to bring him the two most precious things of this city and the angel comes back with the heart made of lead and the bird. God is pleased and gives The Happy Prince and the Swallow a Place in his garden of Paradise.

The Nightingale and the Rose
5/5
Wow. It saddens me that Nightingale's sacrifice is useless. She sacrificed her life for the student's love because it must be true love, right? But the ungratefulness of the professor's daughter makes the Nightingales life go to waste.

The Selfish Giant
3/5
It wasn't bad, but I didn't like this one as much as the other stories.
It shows how selfishness can negatively change your life and that by being unselfish you will encounter the best years in your life because you spread love.

The Devoted Friend
3.5/5
I would've given it a better rating, but the story was so frustrating. *sigh*
What do you consider a devoted friend? Do you consider yourself one? What does friendship really mean and how can you be a good friend to your friends?
The Water-Rat wants a devoted friend, but he doesn't understand what it takes to be one. When asked what he would do in return, he doesn't understand.
The Green Linnet tells him a story about poor little Hans who is kind-hearted and his devoted friend Hugh the Miller. Miller goes on and on about being a good friend, but in reality he is anything but a good friend. He takes things from Hans without ever returning the favour. He never visits Hans on his bad days. He doesn't help Hans when he needs his help. But that's what makes him a good friend, right? He takes advantage of Hans over and over and over again and Hans never complains. Which leads to Hans dying while trying to help Miller, which he, at the end, doesn't even really appreciate??? This story made me mad because we all know people that are like this piece of shit. I know it's just a story, but I was frustrated nevertheless. And to top it of the damn Water-Rat didn't even get the moral of the story. Noice.

The Remarkable Rocket
2/5
I didn't like this story at all. It is about a rocket with an inflated ego, who thinks he is better than anyone else. He likes to hear himself talk and doesn't want to listen to anybody else than himself. Funnily enough, he doesn't take off at the wedding of the Prince and is thrown away and even then he thinks he's superior to everyone he meets. Later on, the oh so remarkable rocket gets lit and does take off, but nobody sees it. such a sad story, I shed a tear

The Portrait of Mr. W. H
3/5
'Twas okay. I have nothing to say about this besides that firstly Cyril Graham and then Lord Erskine were obsessed with who Mr. W. H. (Willie Hughes) was and I found it funny that in Wilde's other short story "The Model Millionaire" the protagonist's name is Hughie Erskine. I don't know if there really is a connection there, but it's still funny to me.

The Young King
3.5/5
I liked this story very much, but I do prefer his other works over this.
The Young King shows the problematic between the rich and the poor and how they are codependent. But after having three nightmares about his folk and how poorly and miserably they live, he decides to not conform to the standard that nobility holds him to. He defies those standards and is being acknowledged as the true king and having a face of an angel.

The Birthday of the Infanta
4/5
I feel deeply sorry for the poor little Dwarf.

The Fisherman and his Soul
4/5
I liked this story very much. I loved how the soul was portrayed and how it is in need of a heart to stay pure, but without it it turned evil and made the Fisherman do horrible things at first, but the power of love is so much stronger than the temptations the soul offers.

The Star-Child
4/5
Arrogance is quite a common pattern in good-looking people that think they're better than everybody else because of they're looks. The Star-Child, though, learned that his behavior and arrogance isn't something to be proud of and sought out the forgiveness of his birth mother after being turned into an ugly boy. He learns to take pity on the less fortunate ones and therefore regains not only his looks, but also the forgiveness of his mother, who turned out to be the Queen. I didn't really like the end of the story. Like, after ruling for only three years of his life in the palace, he dies and the ruler, who came after him, was evil. I don't really understand why it had to end that way.

Bu kitap normalde 350 küsür sayfa fakat ben yarısını okuyabildim. İkinci yarısında çok sıkılınca bıraktım. Zaten birbirinden bağımsız hikayelerden oluşuyordu, başka zaman gerisini okurum diye düşündüm. En sevdiğim hikaye 'Sadık Dost' hikayesiydi ve bu hikaye, gariptir, bana Tolstoy'un öykülerini anımsattı. Keza diğer hikayeleri okurken de Oscar Wilde'ın öykücülüğünün beklediğimden daha farklı olduğunu fark ettim. Dorian Gray'den edindiğim izlenim bende farklı beklentiler oluşturmuştu ama yanılmışım.

This volume contains all of Oscar Wilde's shorter works, including his fairy tales, which I had already read. The rest of it was new to me, although frankly there wasn't that much of it. The fairy tales are quite lovely though, by turns lyrical and cynical. They always seem to be heading the way most fairy tales do, but then there's a sharp and bitter twist, such as in "The Nightingale and the Rose". The nightingale's sacrifice and suffering is all for nothing because of a flighty young woman.

This book collects everything from the fairy tales to ghost stories, detective fiction, and, (what Wilde's most known for) comedies of manners. It was probably my least favorite collection of Wilde's works, but it's a still important to read.

3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book. Oscar Wilde is one of the must in English literature. I think in these short stories one can find several themes that are common in Wilde's writing: 1) a kind of reinterpretation or assimilation of the religious themes; 2) a love story always marked by prejudice, social class and status issues, and of course the mockery of the bourgeoisie. 3) And finally, philosophical discussions, which also include the questioning of human nature. A few quotations I liked in this book: "love is not fashionable any more, the poets have killed it. They wrote so much about it that nobody believed them"; and "Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the unemployed".

Very few authors have had the sort of wit which Oscar Wilde exudes with ease. Oscar Wilde's prose is probably the most quotable prose I've ever read (atleast by authors writing in English) George Bernard Shaw follows very closely. There is something very charming, disarming and yet incisive about the way Oscar Wilde looks at the world and tells some very simple stories with a lot of effect. His characters have permanence and speak to you directly. There's no wonder that Oscar Wilde had immense impact on another English author who I absolutely idolize PG Wodehouse. The humor flows effortlessly, makes you laugh, makes you think, and has almost philosophical undertones to it sometimes. Cannot recommend Oscar Wilde enough

This was definitely hard to get into at the start because I didn't enjoy the first few stories, but absolutely flew through this once I got to about the half way point. A quick rating for each story:

The Happy Prince⭐⭐⭐⭐
I really enjoyed this one, it was one of the shorter stories and I felt it was quite charming. Tones of what it means to be truly selfless and help others, even if ultimately it is to the detriment of yourself.
The Nightingale and the Rose ⭐⭐⭐
The Selfish Giant ⭐⭐⭐
One of the more enjoyable ones, more of a childlike whimsical feel while reading this.
The Devoted Friend ⭐⭐⭐⭐
One of my favourites - a true portrayal of knowing true friendship, the lengths one will go to for another under the guise of friendship and mutual understanding and help, manipulation and guilt-tripping, and how being too giving and caring to another who does not show the same towards you will ultimately end up costing you.
The Remarkable Rocket ⭐⭐
The Portrait of Mr. W.H. ⭐
I probably would've enjoyed this if I knew a lot about Shakespeare but because I do not, I found this very boring.
The Young King ⭐⭐
The Birthday of the Infanta ⭐
The Fisherman and his Soul ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I loved this one - a story about how without consciousness or a body, a soul left to wander can be led astray and turn evil. Without one's soul one loses their morality.
The Star-Child ⭐⭐⭐
Lord Authur Savile's crime ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Probably the most entertaining story in this collection, I loved it. Dark and eerie, mysterious, humorous at times, and portrays the notion of a self-fulfilling prophecy in an intriguing story.
The Sphinx Without a Secret ⭐
The Canterville Ghost ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Also the most entertaining. A charming story of a ghost just seeking out one who will help them find peace, and shows the cruelty of adults and the innocent kind-heartedness of children. It was funny, whimsical, suspenseful, and captivating. Probably my favourite short story of this collection.
The Model Millionaire ⭐
Poems in Prose ⭐
Heavily influenced by religion so I just didn't really relate to these.

4.75

Too preachy...

Chronology
Introduction
Further Reading
A Note on the Texts

The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888)
--The Happy Prince
--The Nightingale and the Rose
--The Selfish Giant
--The Devoted Friend
--The Remarkable Rocket

--The Portrait of Mr. W. H. (1889)

A House of Pomegranates (1891)
--The Young King
--The Birthday of the Infanta
--The Fisherman and his Soul
--The Star-Child

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories (1891)
--Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
--The Sphinx Without a Secret
--The Canterville Ghost
--The Model Millionaire

Poems in Prose (1894)
--The Artist
--The Doer of Good
--The Disciple
--The Master
--The House of Judgement
--The Teacher of Wisdom

--'Elder-tree' (fragment)

Notes

His stories has intrigued us all ever since we were just 3 years old, I can remember watching cartoon production on his short stories that always end up with a lesson in love, loyalty and friendship.
I cannot deny that his work are particularly my favorite in the short stories genre becuase they are filled with lots of brilliant stories that is filled with explicit details that make it a page turner.
His earliest works were my favorite read but nothing could be compared to the fisherman and his soul which is a breath taking story of love which conquers all, my other favorites was the star child, the happy prince and the giant.
A pity that he had to be put in jail in which he had to stop writing his stories. I highly recommend mothers to get their children reading his short stories becuase they will learn alot from it!