Oscar Wilde

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Oscar Wilde

• 1854-1900

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Little Oscar

• Birth name is Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills
  Wilde
• Born in Dublin, Ireland
• Mother was a writer and political activist.
• Father was a renowned Surgeon.

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Education

• Attended Trinity College in Dublin until 1874.
• Received many honors in school.
• Entered Magdalen College at the University of
  Oxford in England.
• Dressed flamboyantly and was very witty.
• Graduated from Oxford in 1878 and moved to London.

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Oscar as a Writer

• In 1881 Wilde collected the poems he had
  previously published in various magazines into a
  volume titled Poems.
• He acquired enough fame for Gilbert and Sullivan
  to satirize him in the comic opera Patience.
• To help with his familys debts, Wilde began a
  lecture tour in America. This is when he
  produced his first play, Vera, while in New York.
• Unfortunately Vera was not very successful.

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Moving to London

• In 1884 Oscar marries a wealthy woman named
  Constance Lloyd and returns to London.
• He began to edit for Womans World magazine for
  two years. During this time he published his
  childrens fairy tales. In 1891 he published his
  only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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Plays

• Wilde wrote five plays during his time in London.
  
• In 1895, Wilde wrote The Importance of Being
  Earnest. This is considered his best work.

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The Scandal

• During his time in London, Wilde carries on a
  relationship with another poet, Sir Lord Alfred
  Douglas.
• Douglas father, the Marquis of Queensbury,
  accused Wilde of being homosexual and Wilde
  retaliated by suing him for libel.
• Queensbury provided Wildes letters to Douglas as
  proof, however, and Wilde eventually served two
  years in prison with hard labor.

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Calling Card that Marquis of Queensberry left for
Wilde.
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After Prison

• Wilde wrote De Profundis while in prison.
• When Wilde was released, he moved to France and
  lived under a pseudonym.
• He published The Ballad of Reading Goal in 1898.
• He published two letters detailing the
  insufferable conditions in prison.
• Wilde died of meningitis in Paris in 1900.