Autobiography of oscar wilde biography

Who was Oscar Wilde?

Fast Facts

• Trinity College (Dublin)
• Magdalen College (Oxford)

• The Picture of Dorian Gray (novel)
• The Importance of Being Earnest (play)
• The Ballad of Reading Gaol (poem)

A Short Biography

"Biography lends to death a new terror" - Oscar Wilde

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Who Was Oscar Wilde?

Author, playwright and poet Oscar Wilde was a popular literary figure in late Victorian England. After graduating from Oxford University, he lectured as a poet, art critic and a leading proponent of the principles of aestheticism. In , 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 (), A Woman of No Importance (), An Ideal Husband () and The Importance of Being Earnest (), 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 He was imprisoned for two years and died in poverty three years after his release at the age of

Early Life and Education

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16, , in Dublin, Ireland. His father, William Wilde, was an acclaimed doctor who was knighted for his work as a medical advisor for the Irish censuses. William later founded St. Mark's Ophthalmic Hospital, entirely at his own personal expense, to treat the city's poor. Wilde's mother, Jane Francesca Elgee, was a poet who was closely associated with the Young Irelander Rebellion of , a skilled linguist whose acclaimed English translation of Pomeranian novelist Wilhelm Meinhold's Sidoniathe Sorceress had a deep influence on her son's later writing.

Wilde was a bright and bookish child. He attended the Portora Royal School at Enniskillen where he fell in love with Greek and Roman studies. He won the school's prize for the top classics student in each of his last two years, as well as second prize in drawing during his final year. Upon graduating in , Wilde was awarded the Royal School Scholarship to attend Trinity College in Dublin. At the end of his first year at Trinity, in , he placed f

Irish poet and playwright (–)

This article is about the Irish poet and playwright. For other uses, see Oscar Wilde (disambiguation).

Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October &#;&#; 30 November ) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwrights in London in the early s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.

Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.

Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversation

Oscar Wilde  ©Wilde was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, poet and critic, and a celebrity in late 19th century London.

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin on 16 October His father was a successful surgeon and his mother a writer and literary hostess. Wilde was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford. While at Oxford, Wilde became involved in the aesthetic movement. After he graduated, he moved to London to pursue a literary career.

His output was diverse. A first volume of his poetry was published in but as well as composing verse, he contributed to publications such as the 'Pall Mall Gazette', wrote fairy stories and published a novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (). His greatest talent was for writing plays, and he produced a string of extremely popular comedies including 'Lady Windermere's Fan' (), 'An Ideal Husband ()' and 'The Importance of Being Earnest' (). 'Salomé' was performed in Paris in

Drama and tragedy marred Wilde's private life. He married Constance Lloyd in and they had two sons, but in Wilde began an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, nicknamed 'Bosie'. In April , Wilde sued Bosie's father, the Marquis of Queensberry, for libel, after the Marquis has accused him of being homosexual. Wilde lost and, after details of his private life were revealed during the trial, was arrested and tried for gross indecency. He was sentenced to two years of hard labour. While in prison he composed a long letter to Douglas, posthumously published under the title 'De Profundis' . His wife took their children to Switzerland and adopted the name 'Holland'. Wilde was released with his health irrevocably damaged and his reputation ruined. He spent the rest of his life in Europe, publishing 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' in He died in Paris on 30 November