 Oscar Wilde's Literary Works
| 1878 |
Ravenna |
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| 1881 |
Poems |
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| 1888 |
The Happy Prince and Other Tales |
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| 1891 |
The Decay of Lying
Intentions
Salome
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| 1892 |
The House of Pomegranates
Lady Windermere's Fan |
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| 1893 |
A Woman of No Importance
The Duchess of Padua |
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| 1894 |
The Sphinx. |
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| 1895 |
An Ideal Husband
The Importance of Being Earnest |
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| 1897 |
De Profundis |
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| 1898 |
The Ballad of Reading Gaol |
Oscar Wilde Biograpy
| Family |
Oscar Wilde's father, William Wilde was a well-travelled doctor who was knighted in 1864 for his services as medical advisor to the Irish Census. A philanthropist, in 1844 he founded (and financed) St Mark's Opthalmic Hospital to care for the Dublin's poor. Oscar's mother, Jane Francesca Elgee, was a gifted woman who wrote revolutionary poems under the pseudonym of "Speranza" for a weekly Irish newspaper. She was an accomplished linguist whose translation of Wilhelm Meinhold's gothic horror novel, "Sidonia the Sorceress" would have been read by Oscar.
Born on October 16 1854, real name - Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wilde had an older brother, William, and a younger sister, Emily Francesca, who died from a fever at the age of ten.
When Oscar's father died in 1876, the family was left in financial difficulties. The family was supported financially by Henry, William's oldest and illegitimate son.
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| Education |
Oscar's high school education took place at the Portora Royal School at Enniskillen. He was an excellent student who was awarded top prize two years running for his work on the classics (Latin and Greek). He also won a second prize for drawing.
1871 - 1874 Trinity College Dublin
Oscar was given a Royal School Scholarship to attend Trinity College in Dublin. While there, he won first place in his classics examinations in 1872 and was given a Foundation Scholarship. His brilliance continued, and in his final year at Trinity, he was awarded the college's Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek and obtained a Demyship scholarship to Magdalen College in Oxford.
Magdalen College, Oxford University
Oscar's academic success continued at Oxford where he received a First Class degree in his exams. He also won the Newdigate prize for his poem, "Ravenna".
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| Adult Life |
After graduation, Oscar lived in London with his friend Frank Miles, a popular high society portrait painter. Oscar's first collection of poetry, "¨Poems" was published in 1881. It was not an overwhelming success with critics, but brought attention to Oscar's writing career.
During this period he became notorious for his outrageous dress. His velvet coats, knee breeches, black silk stockings, flowing shirts and ties as well as his jewel-topped cane and lavender-coloured gloves frequently provoked the conservative middle class in which he lived.
He was a pioneer of celebrity, whose friends and contemporaries included Aubrey Beardsley, Lillie Langtry, James McNeill Whistler, Sir Max Beerbohm and Ada Leverson.
1881-1882
Oscar spent nearly a year on a lecture tour of the United States where he gave over 140 lectures on aesthetics.
Whilst in the United States, he met major American authors such as Henry Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Walt Whitman. Oscar's play "Vera" was to be staged in New York the following year.
After touring America, Oscar spent three months in Paris, where he wrote a blank-verse tragedy that had been commissioned by an actress who later turned it down. After his stay in Paris, Oscar went on a lecture tour of Britain and Ireland.
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| Marriage |
Oscar married Constance Lloyd, the daughter of a prominent barrister, on May 29, 1884. Like Oscar's mother, Constance was a well-educated, independent minded woman, and able to speak several European languages. The couple had two sons: Cyril in 1885 and Vyvyan in 1886.
From 1887 - 1889 Oscar worked at the Woman's World magazine in order to support his family.
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| Literary success |
Collections of children's stories
"The Happy Prince and Other Tales" (1888), and "The House of Pomegranates" (1892).
Novel
"The Picture of Dorian Gray", Oscar's only novel was first published in an American magazine in 1890.
The story was published in book form the following year after Oscar had expanded the work. In Victorian England, this novel shocked public and critics alike, due to its homoerotic undertones.
Plays
"Lady Windermere's Fan," opened in February 1892. This was Oscar's first play: its success established him as a leading playwright.
"A Woman of No Importance" (1893)
"An Ideal Husband" (1895)
"The Importance of Being Earnest" (1895)
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| Downfall |
1891: Oscar met Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas, the third son of the Marquis of Queensberry. They became lovers. In 1895: Oscar sued Bosie's father for libel in response to the Marquis' accusation of Oscar's homosexuality, at the time a crime. Oscar himself withdrew the case when the Marquis threatened to call witnesses who would testify against Oscar. Instead, Oscar found himself facing a trial for gross indecency. He went ahead with the trial but was convicted and sentenced to two years hard labour. His marriage collapsed: Constance fled to Switzerland with her children where they lived under the name of Holland. She died in 1898.
Oscar was declared bankrupt and his house and belongings were auctioned off to pay debts. Many friends abandoned him and his plays closed in the theatres within four months. From his position as a leading London playwright he had fallen to the position of convicted criminal and had suffered public humiliation.
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| Prison and exile |
Oscar wrote "De Profundis" while in prison: an essay on faith and spirituality. After his release he wrote the poem "The Ballad of Reading Gaol." This was his response to the suffering he underwent while in gaol.
Apart from a brief reunion with Bosie, Oscar spent most of the rest of his short life wandering the continent, staying with friends or in cheap hotels under the name of Sebastian Melmoth. He never regained literary success.
Oscar Wilde died in Paris on November 30th 1900 from cerebral meningitis.
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| Oscar Wilde and Irish Politics |
Personal note from Lucille O'Flanagan (director)
Oscar never really involved himself in the difficult relationship between Ireland and Britain. His lectures included one on 'THE IRISH POETS OF 1848' which would have included the work of his mother. During his long lecture tour of America, some Irish-American journalists criticised Oscar for his lack of involvement, saying he was "phrasing about beauty while a hideous tyranny overshadows his native land."
However whilst Oscar was thus touring America, a nationalist group in Ireland called the 'Invincibles' murdered the Chief Secretary Lord Cavendish and his assistant in The Phoenix Park, Dublin on the 6 May 1882.
Wilde had met Cavendish at one or more dinner parties and was called upon for his opinion on the nationalist group and their murderous actions. Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying "when liberty comes with hands dabbled in blood it is hard to shake hands with her," and then went on "we forget how much England is to blame. She is reaping the fruit of seven centuries of injustice."
. personal notewhich might interest some of you :
Joe Brady (of the Invincibles), who was later hanged for the murders, was my great uncle !
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 Animal Farm / The Importance Of Being Earnest / Lancelot or How To Be A Knight |
