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Who is Oscar Wilde?
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. Known for his literary works, Wilde incorporated the features of both realism and fantasy in his works with phenomenal ability. He was also known for his wit, his flamboyance, and his trials and jail sentence for homosexual acts -
The Birth
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16, 1854, in Dublin, Ireland into a family of professional and literary parents. He was born at 21 Westland Row, which belongs to Trinity College Dublin, his birthplace is now the Oscar Wilde Centre of Trinity College. His father, Sir Wilde, was Ireland's leading ear and eye surgeon who also published books. His mother, by the pen name of Speranza, was a revolutionary poet. Oscar Wilde thus had a good upbringing. -
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Education
Oscar Wilde began his embarkment on his education. He attended Portora Royal School as a kid from the ages 10 to 18 1864-1871. He then received scholarships that allowed him to attend Trinity College Dublin from 1871-1874 and Magdalen College from 1874-1878. -
Awarded The Newdigate Prize
In his last year at Oxford University, Oscar Wilde was awarded the Newdigate Prize for poetry for Ravenna. The Newdigate Prize is awarded to students of the University of Oxford for the Best Composition in English verse. -
Poems Published
Wilde publishes his first book, a collection of verses titled Poems. He establishes himself as a leader in the London aesthetic movement. A chief idea behind Wilde's philosophy of aesthetics and in his books was the idea that everything in life should be beautiful. For these reasons, he is often referred to as the father of the Aesthetic movement, the first major writer to challenge classic literary structure and cause controversy for doing so. -
Touring
Oscar Wilde begins his lecture touring around the countries: the United States and Canada. His first destination is the United States. He was hired to go to America to promote that work by presenting lectures on interior decorating. But Wilde had his own business plan. He would go to promote himself and hoped to encourage an appreciation for beauty in an America that was largely devoted to industrialization and made fun of Wilde and people who cared about art. -
First play
In his time in the U.S., Wilde meets a poet named Walt Whitman who he greatly admires. At the start of his Lecture tour of North America, Oscar Wilde expressed a fervent wish to meet the American poet Walt Whitman, whose works he had been familiar with from a young age. Oscar Wilde takes some inspiration from Whitman and produces his first play, Vera in New York. It is unpopular. -
U.K. Tour/Second Play
Wilde does another lecture tour around England. He writes his second play, The Duchess of Padua which also is unpopular and does horribly. From June 1883 to 1888 Wilde gave over 200 lectures which we now know about and his final mention of giving a lecture is in November 1889. -
Marriage
Oscar Wilde marries Constance Lloyd. She is four years younger than Oscar and the daughter of a prominent barrister. She was well-read, outspoken, and had an independent mind as an Irish author. -
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Oscar Wilde's children
His first born son, Cyril, was born in 1885. Wilde's second born son, Vvvyan, was born in 1886. -
Appointment
Oscar Wilde is appointed as the editor of a magazine known as "The Lady's World". His name often appeared on the cover and he renamed it "The Woman's World" where he discussed into depth about serious topics such as culture and politics. -
Fairy Tales Published
Wilde publishes The Happy Prince and Other Tales which was a collection of fairy tales. This collection included popular tales such as The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, and the Selfish Giant. The moral of the story ''The Happy Prince'' is that humans should help those in need. The Prince and the Swallow help others who are suffering, and they die in the process. However, they are rewarded in the afterlife, showing love and sacrifice. -
The Picture of Dorian Gray is published
The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde that appeared as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. The novel tells of an artist named Basil Hallward who becomes impressed and infatuated by a man named Dorian Gray. The Picture of Dorian Gray was met with critical reviews due to its decadence and homoerotic content. -
Books published
Wilde publishes a book of short stories. He also publishes a collection of essays outlining his thoughts on aestheticism. Wilde’s essays, plays, and novels led the aesthetic movement for other artists, arguing that art should exist for art’s sake only, without any sort of political agenda. He also befriends an Oxford student named Lord Alfred Douglas. -
Lovers Quarrel
Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest premieres at St. James's Theatre in London. It is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. 'Jack' and Algernon create alter egos named Ernest to escape their tiresome lives. -
Theatrical Success
Wilde writes the play Lady Windermere's Fan, which gains massive success. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who suspects that her husband is having an affair with another woman; she confronts him about it. He also writes a play in French called Salomé. Salome is the archetypical monster in Christianity everyone else around her and pushes them to the extreme limits of decency play is written but it is not produced because of a law forbidding the depiction of Biblical characters on stage. -
A Woman of No Importance
Wilde's comedic play A Woman of No Importance premieres to great success. A Woman of No Importance is a play by Oscar Wilde that revealed troubling attitudes towards the roles and expectations of women in the Victorian Era. The main plot of the play revolves around a woman, Mrs. Arbuthnot, who is an unwed mother with one grown son. -
The Calling Card
John Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry leaves a calling card at Wilde's home written to "Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite". Wilde is enraged and decides to sue Queensberry for libel, which becomes a decision that ends up ruining his life. -
Lovers
He and Lord Alfred Douglas are now lovers. Their relationship enrages Douglas's father Queensberry. Queensberry attempts to get into the theater so that he can throw vegetables at Wilde but is prevented. -
Queensberry's Trial Begins
The libel trial begins. Lawyers question Wilde on his work and relationships and submit his letters to Alfred Douglas as evidence. Queensberry is acquitted; meanwhile, Wilde is immediately arrested on charges of gross indecency. -
Wilde's trial is opened
Wilde's trial for indecency opens. His wife, Constance Wilde, takes their sons to Europe and changes their last names. Wilde never sees his children again. -
Sentenced
Oscar Wilde is convicted of gross indecency and is sentenced to two years of hard labor. He is sent quickly to prison and transferred to Reading Goal soon after. Despite the terrible conditions within Oscar Wilde’s prison, he continued to write excellently; writing many letters to Sir Alfred Douglas and an imperative essay detailing his imprisonment called The Battle of Reading Gaol where he opens up about the harsh jail conditions. -
His Mother's Death
Wilde's mother Jane Francesca Wilde dies. His wife Constance visits him in prison in order to break the news. Wilde pays for her funeral but is unable to afford a headstone. She is thus buried in an unmarked grave. -
Released from Jail
Wilde is released from Reading Gaol in poor health. He goes to France, where he spends the rest of his life in exile. -
Reunited with Douglas
Wilde and Alfred Douglas reunite in France. They soon separate. Wilde after the trial is now penniless and he moves into the Hotel d'Alsace in Paris. -
The Death of His Wife
Wilde's wife Constance dies in Italy after her spinal surgery at the age of 40. After his trials, they had lived apart but never had divorced. -
The Death
After a deathbed conversion to Catholicism, Oscar Wilde died of meningitis in Paris at 46. His burial was first in Cimitiere de Bagneaux, but it was later moved to Pere Lachaise Cemetery. In remembrance, fans of Oscar Wilde have paid tribute to the Irish writer by leaving kisses on his tomb at Paris's famed Pere Lachaise Cemetery. -
Impacting Legacy
Even after his death, Wilde left an impact. Wilde was known to be extraordinarily clever and articulate during his time. As Oscar Wilde muttered his last words, he stated "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us must go. In a sense, he is an example of a person who left a legacy on the importance of disrupting conventional views of society on topics such as religion and sexuality. -
Works Cited
“About Oscar Wilde.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, https://poets.org/poet/oscar-wilde.
“History: Oscar Wilde).” BBC, BBC, https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilde_oscar.shtml. “Oscar Wilde Online.” https://www.wilde-online.info/oscar-wilde-biography.htm.
“Oscar Wilde.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 14 Apr. 2021, https://www.biography.com/writer/oscar-wilde.
“Oscar Wilde.”Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oscar-Wilde.