Oscar Wilde

Born: October 16, 1854 

Died: November 30, 1900 

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” 

Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Gray 

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born to Sir William Wilde and Jane Wilde. His father was Ireland’s leading ear and eye surgeon, and he also published books on archaeology, folklore, and the satirist Jonathan Swift. Jane Wilde, pseudonym Speranza,  was a revolutionary poet and an authority on Celtic myth and folklore.  

Oscar Wilde received his formal education at Trinity College in Dublin and Magdalen College in Oxford. During his time in Oxford he was exposed to the Aestheticism movement in the 1880s. Wilde began to make a name for himself with his flamboyant nature and wit, becoming the target of satirist writings for his unmasculine devotion to the arts. In 1881, Wilde published his first set of works, Poems. Critics accused the poems of resembling work from Algernon Swinburne, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and John Keats.  

Riding on his high of notoriety, Wilde agreed in 1882 to lecture in the United States and Canada, eager to share his love of art and aestheticism with the American public. On arriving at customs in New York City Wilde announced that he had “nothing to declare but his genius.” 

After the publication of his first collection of poems, Wilde married Constance Lloyd, had two sons, and became editor of a fashion magazine, Woman’s World. While he was creating his most well-known works on the stage and on the shelf, Wilde's private life was welling with drama and tragedy.  

In 1891, the same year The Picture of Dorian Gray was published, Wilde started a relationship with Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas. His father, the Marquess of Queensberry, disapproved of the relationship and threatened Wilde with a lawsuit if the romance continued. After Queensberry openly accused Wilde of being a homosexual, Wilde countersued for libel against the advice of his closest friends.  

He eventually lost the suit after massive amounts of personal information came to light that showed Wilde engaging in homosexual acts. He was arrested and tried for gross indecency for which he was sentenced to two years hard labor. During his sentence his wife and his sons moved to Switzerland and changed their name to "Holland" to escape the "shame."  

After he was released, Wilde's health declined. He spent the rest of his life impoverished and exiled in Europe working on his final poem, 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol.' He took the name Sebastian Melmoth (after St. Sebastian ) and wrote letters denouncing English prisons and advocating for reform. Oscar Wilde died of meningitis on 30 November 1900 in the company of lifelong friend and former lover Robbie Ross.