Get acquainted with Oscar Wilde!

Who was Oscar Wilde?

• Oscar Wilde was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and critic.
• He is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of the Victorian Era .
• In his lifetime he wrote nine plays, one novel, and numerous poems, short stories, and essays.

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on 16 October 1854

to Sir William Wilde and his wife Jane.

Oscar's mother,

Lady Jane Francesca Wilde (1820-1896),

was a successful poet and journalist.

Oscar's father, Sir William Wilde (1815 - 1876),

was a leading ear and eye surgeon

and a gifted writer,

who wrote books on archaeology and folklore.

Oscar had an elder brother, Willie,

and a younger sister, Isola Francesca,

who died at the early age of 10.

He was educated at Portora Royal School (1864-71)

He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (1871-74 )

He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford (1874-78). While at Magdalen, he won the 1878 Newdigate Prize for his poem Ravenna.

• After he graduated, he moved to Chelsea in London (1879) to establish a literary career.
• In 1881, he published his first collection of poetry .
• He worked as an art reviewer (1881), lectured in the United States and Canada (1882), and lived in Paris (1883).
• He also lectured in Britain and Ireland

(1883 - 1884).

On May 29, 1884, Oscar married Constance Lloyd (died 1898),

daughter of wealthy Queen's Counsel Horace Lloyd.

They had two sons, Cyril (1885) and Vyvyan (1886).

To support his family, Oscar accepted a job as the editor

of Woman's World magazine, where he worked from 1887-1889.

In 1888, he published The Happy Prince and Other Tales,

fairy-stories written for his two sons.

His first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray,

was published in 1891 and received quite a negative response.

In 1891, Wilde began an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas,

nicknamed 'Bosie', who became both the love of his life

and his downfall. Wilde's marriage ended in 1893.

• Wilde's greatest talent was for writing plays.
• His first successful play :
• Lady Windermere's Fan,
• A Woman of No Importance (1893),
• An Ideal Husband (1895),
• The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

In April 1895, h e was sentenced to two years

of hard labor for the crime of sodomy.

During his time in prison he wrote De Profundis,

a dramatic monologue and autobiography,

which was addressed to Bosie.

Upon his release in 1897,

he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol,

revealing his concern for inhumane prison conditions.

He spent the rest of his life wandering Europe,

staying with friends and living in cheap hotels.

He died of cerebral meningitis on November 30, 1900,

penniless, in a cheap Paris hotel.