Inspiration Days #1: The Nightingale and the Rose

I said in my first post that I may occasionally link to things which have inspired me.

Well let's start that today, shall we? I'm going to go ahead and link to the source material I'll be talking about right up front. It's very short. It's a fairy tale in fact. I suppose I should warn that quite a few of my friends have found it incredibly sad despite it's beauty.

Click Here to go to the full text of Oscar Wilde's "The Nightingale and the Rose"

If you don't want to read it or don't have time, don't worry - the rest of the post will not require you having read it, but since the idea is you may want to get a better idea of what's inspiring my writing process or how my book's style will be, it could help.

Imagery

First off, I cannot get over how much I adore the imagery in this piece. I was overwhelmed when I first read it and still love it to this day. The way everything is given such personality and beauty blew me away. Even the one-line creatures are given delightful details such as the butterfly chasing after a beam of sunlight.

From the tiniest of details such as what the minuscule forest animals are doing to the massive-scale miracles that the Nightingale's song manages near the end of the story, Wilde really set the bar for me in terms of what can be accomplished with vivid imagery.

Tragedy

If you didn't read the text by now, this section will ruin it forever. Yes, the ending is devastating. Humorously enough if you were to tell a stranger "a rose is discarded" they probably wouldn't think that sounds like a tragedy but this story makes it soul-crushing.

Still, I found incredible beauty in that sadness. That a story could make me feel those emotions I find absolutely wonderful and I applaud it. I actually enjoy tragedy like this - that comes from a place of genuine emotion that a skilled writer has crafted. I'm curious though what others think.

Besides of course, that we should burn the Student's house down.

Love,
 Skinner