Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Writer
- Dublin, Ireland
Author Oscar Wilde was known for his acclaimed works including The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as his brilliant wit, flamboyant style and infamous imprisonment for homosexuality.
Born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, author, playwright and poet Oscar Wilde was a popular literary figure in late Victorian England, known for his brilliant wit, flamboyant style and infamous imprisonment for homosexuality. After graduating from Oxford University, he lectured as a poet, art critic and a leading proponent of the principles of aestheticism. In 1891, he published The Picture of Dorian Gray, his only novel which was panned as immoral by Victorian critics, but is now considered one of his most notable works. As a dramatist, many of Wilde’s plays were well received including his satirical comedies Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), his most famous play. Unconventional in his writing and life, Wilde’s affair with a young man led to his arrest on charges of "gross indecency" in 1895. He was imprisoned for two years and died in poverty three years after his release at the age of 46.
Childhood & Early Years
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on 16 October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Sir William Robert Wills Wilde, was a noted eye-ear surgeon. He also authored a number of books on medicine, archeology and folklore. In 1864, he was knighted for his services in the censuses of Ireland.
His mother, Jane Francesca Agnes (née Elgee) Wilde, was of Italian descent. She was a poetess, writing under the penname of ‘Speranza’, meaning hope. A supporter of Irish nationalist movement, many of her works were pro-Ireland and anti-British. She was also interested in Irish folktales and campaigned for women’s education.
Oscar was born second of his parents’ three children. His elder brother, William Charles Kingsbury Wilde, grew up to be a noted journalist and poet while his sister, Isola Francesca Emily Wilde, died of meningitis at the age of nine.
Oscar also had three half-siblings, Henry Wilson, Emily and Mary Wilde, born out of wedlock to Sir Wilde before his marriage to Jane. Henry William Wilde was later trained in medicine and assisted Sir Wilde in his practice in Dublin.
Up to the age of nine, Oscar Wilde was educated at home under a German governess and a French nurse. From them, he learned German and French respectively.
In 1864, he was enrolled at Portora Royal School, then a boarding school in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. Here, he became especially interested in Greek and Roman studies, receiving prizes as the best Classics student in his last two years there.
In 1871, Oscar Wilde graduated from Portora with a Royal School Scholarship to study classics at Trinity College, Dublin. Here he quickly established himself as an outstanding student.
In 1874, he graduated from Trinity, winning the Berkeley Gold Medal, the highest medal for Greek. Thereafter, he entered Magdalen College, Oxford with a Demyship. Among his teachers here were John Ruskin and Walter Pater, who impressed upon him the importance of art in life.
On his graduation in 1878, Oscar Wilde returned to Dublin for a brief period. By now, his father had died virtually bankrupt. The family now sold the house and with his share of legacy Wilde moved to London, where he put up with portraitist Frank Miles, popular in London’s high circle.
Career
Also in 1881, he secured his first job as an art reviewer. However, he left it towards the end of the year, to embark on a lecture tour in the United States and Canada on the invitation of Richard D'Oyly Carte, an English talent agent and impresario.
Oscar Wilde reached New York City on 2 January 1882. Although the tour was originally planned for four months, because of its commercial success, it was extended for almost a year. During this period, he delivered around 140 lectures, mostly on aestheticism.
On his return to Great Britain, Oscar Wilde embarked on another lecture circuit across England and Ireland, which would last up to the middle of 1884. Meanwhile sometime between February and Ma 1883, he went to Paris for three months and there he completed his play, ‘The Duchess of Padua’
Oscar Wilde is best remembered for his last play, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain double identities. Commended for its wits, the play has been revived many times since its premiere on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre, London and thrice made into films.