A garden scene in ivory and jade

Le Panneau

Poem·about 1 min

"There stands a little ivory girl"
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Poem

Under the rose-tree’s dancing shadeThere stands a little ivory girl,Pulling the leaves of pink and pearlWith pale green nails of polished jade.

The red leaves fall upon the mould,The white leaves flutter, one by one,Down to a blue bowl where the sun,Like a great dragon, writhes in gold.

The white leaves float upon the air,The red leaves flutter idly down,Some fall upon her yellow gown,And some upon her raven hair.

She takes an amber lute and sings,And as she sings a silver craneBegins his scarlet neck to strain,And flap his burnished metal wings.

She takes a lute of amber bright,And from the thicket where he liesHer lover, with his almond eyes,Watches her movements in delight.

And now she gives a cry of fear,And tiny tears begin to start:A thorn has wounded with its dartThe pink-veined sea-shell of her ear.

And now she laughs a merry note:There has fallen a petal of the roseJust where the yellow satin showsThe blue-veined flower of her throat.

With pale green nails of polished jade,Pulling the leaves of pink and pearl,There stands a little ivory girlUnder the rose-tree’s dancing shade.

Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0 1.0)

In brief

Summary

A 'little ivory girl' stands under a rose-tree, pulling at its petals with nails of polished jade. Red and white petals fall around her, onto her yellow gown and raven hair and into a blue bowl where the sun writhes in gold like a dragon. She sings to an amber lute, a silver crane strains its scarlet neck, and her almond-eyed lover watches from a thicket. A thorn pricks her ear and she cries; a petal lands on her throat and she laughs. The last stanza repeats the first in reverse, closing the picture like a frame.

Key themes

"With pale green nails of polished jade."

Related works

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Summary

The first stanza sets the figure: under 'the rose-tree's dancing shade' stands 'a little ivory girl', pulling 'the leaves of pink and pearl' with 'pale green nails of polished jade'. In the second and third stanzas the petals, called leaves, fall. The red ones drop onto the mould; the white ones flutter one by one 'Down to a blue bowl where the sun, / Like a great dragon, writhes in gold'. Some fall on her yellow gown, some on her raven hair.

In the fourth and fifth stanzas she takes 'an amber lute' and sings. A 'silver crane' begins to strain its scarlet neck and flap its 'burnished metal wings', and from the thicket her lover, 'with his almond eyes', 'Watches her movements in delight'.

The sixth and seventh stanzas give two tiny events. A thorn wounds 'The pink-veined sea-shell of her ear', and with a cry of fear she begins to shed 'tiny tears'. Then a rose petal falls just where the yellow satin shows 'The blue-veined flower of her throat', and she laughs 'a merry note'. The final stanza repeats the lines of the first in reverse order, so the scene ends where it began.

Characters

  • The ivory girl

    The figure on the panel

    A 'little ivory girl' in a yellow satin gown, with raven hair and 'pale green nails of polished jade'. She pulls petals from the rose-tree, sings to an amber lute, cries when a thorn pricks her ear and laughs when a petal falls on her throat.

  • Her lover

    Watcher in the thicket

    He lies hidden in the thicket, 'with his almond eyes', and 'Watches her movements in delight'. He neither speaks nor moves toward her; like the silver crane, he belongs to the decoration that surrounds her.

Themes

A world of precious things

Everything in the poem is made of rare materials rather than flesh. The girl is 'ivory', her nails 'polished jade', her lute 'amber', the crane has 'burnished metal wings', and the sun 'writhes in gold'. Even her body is ornament: 'The pink-veined sea-shell of her ear', 'The blue-veined flower of her throat'. The title, French for 'The Panel', presents the scene as a decorated surface, not a moment from life.

A circle closed

The last stanza reverses the first line by line, from 'With pale green nails of polished jade' back to 'Under the rose-tree's dancing shade', so the poem ends where it began, like a border pattern running round a panel. Within that frame the action is tiny: petals fall, a thorn pricks, a petal lands. Nothing develops; the scene is held still for looking.

Small pains, small pleasures

Feeling in the poem is delicate and brief. A thorn wounds her ear and 'tiny tears begin to start'; a moment later a falling petal makes her laugh 'a merry note'. Her lover watches 'in delight' from the thicket without coming nearer. Like everything else in the picture, emotion is made small and decorative.

Quotes

Every line is copied from the text and links to where it appears.

Context

Le Panneau, French for 'The Panel', appears in Wilde's collected poems under the heading 'Fantaisies Décoratives', together with Les Ballons. It is written in eight four-line stanzas rhyming ABBA, and its last stanza repeats the first in reverse. Its ivory, jade and amber, its golden dragon, silver crane and almond-eyed lover suggest a painted or lacquered panel in an Eastern style.

About this edition

  • Text: the complete work from Standard Ebooks, released into the public domain (CC0 1.0). We change only the layout.
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  • Every quotation and glossary word in these notes is checked against the text.