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Top 5 facts about Oscar WildeÌý

Oscar Wilde, 1882: Wikimedia Commons

‘This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. Either it goes, or I go’. Does this phrase ring a bell? No? Am I confusing you? These were the last words of a dying man. His name was Oscar Wilde. Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Ireland on October 16th, 1854, and died in Paris, France on November 30th, 1900. His mother, famously known as Speranza, was a poet and very good in Celtic Folklore and his father, Sir William, was a brilliant and leading ear and eye surgeon, who also wrote several books. He lived quite an interesting life, writing and composing some of the best works in the world, ending up in prison for some time, and speaking up for and against things he believed in.Ìý

Here as some of the most outstanding facts about Oscar Wilde that will interest you.Ìý

1. He was arrested for his sexuality

Image: Wikimedia Commons

In 1891 he met and was involved with Lord Alfred Douglas which did not go down well with Douglas’ father, the marquess of Queensbury, who accused him of sodomy. Wilde, under the influence of Douglas, sued Douglas’ father of libel, but the case did not favor him. There was a retrial, and even though the people close to him asked him to flee to France and he refused, the evidence against him was too much and Wilde ended up in jail for two years, from 1895 to 1897. He was in Reading Gaol for the better part of the two-year sentence, most of that time doing hard labor. He could not believe that his life had reached such a place, even writing a long letter to Douglas, with questions on why he distracted him from his work and led him to disintegration. The letter, De Profundis, was published in 1905 a few years after his death.

2. He was a bright student

Image: Wikimedia Commons

His parents were brilliant in what they did, his father being a surgeon who even opened the St Mark’s O’Phthalmic Hospital to treat the poor, and his mother a renowned poet. Oscar himself was an intelligent student who attended the Portora Royal School where he was fascinated by Roman and Greek studies. The brilliant student even won scholarships at the school which enabled him to attend the Trinity College in Dublin. With his exceptional performance at the college level, he also got to win the Foundation Scholarship, offered by the college, which was the highest undergraduate honor. He was awarded the Berkeley Gold Medal as the College’s best student in Greek, during his graduation in 1894. He was also awarded the Demyship scholarship to continue with his studies at Magdalen College in Oxford. That was not the end. Before he completed his studies, he received the Newdigate Prize for the best English verse composition by an undergraduate in Oxford, for his poem ‘Ravenna’!

3. He died of meningitisÌý

Image: Wikimedia

Wilde is said to have died of meningitis, in Paris France, where he moved to after his release from prison. He died at a very young age of 46, and many people do not agree with this theory. It is believed that he contracted the disease after getting an ear infection. He died of the disease a very poor man.Ìý

4. One of the world’s best poets

Image: Wikimedia Commons

During his life as a poet, Wilde was also known to be a spokesperson for the Aesthetic Movement, a European Arts movement that was very popular in the 19th century. The movement, which advocated for ‘Art for Art’ believed in the existence of art to be just for beauty and with no involvement in politics, social class, religion and or other attachments.

Upon his graduation from Oxford, and after living with his friend for a while he tried his hand at writing poetry, he got an opportunity to travel to New York where, in the nine months he was there, was able to deliver over 140 appearances, talk, and lectures. It is in America where he met and interacted with fellow writers who became his inspiration and mentors, some of them including- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Longfellow, and Walt Whitman. He continued with his lectures, back home when he returned from his American Tour and becoming involved with the Aesthetic movement.Ìý

Some of his most notable works ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, his only novel published in 1891, ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ published in 1892. He also has ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’ in 1895, ‘A Woman of no Importance’, in 1893, ‘An Ideal Husband’ in 1895, ‘Poems’- his first work was published in 1881, a children’s collection, ‘The Happy Prince and Other Tales’, in 1888, and ‘Intentions’, in 1891.

5. Family drama

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Wilde married his wife, Constance Lloyd, an Englishwoman, with whom they had two sons Cyril and Vyvyan who were born in 1885 and 1886, respectively. His wife was not the conventional housewife type, she was a wealthy woman, very fashionable, living a wealthy, free and modern life at the time.Ìý

Wilde was imprisoned for his homosexuality and after his imprisonment, his family did not want anything to do with him; it went as far as his wife changing her and her sons’ names to distance themselves from him. They replaced Wilde with Holland, taken from her side of the family, even changing Vyvyan’s name to Vivian as it was thought to have been his father’s idea. The children went to attend various schools in Switzerland as well as Italy. Even after the wife died at the age of 40 in Italy, the relatives made sure he did not see his sons! Wilde then went to France where he lived a poor life; and even then, was not able to do much writing after that. One of the few works he wrote was ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’, which he wrote in 1898. They moved back to England after their mother’s death, the firstborn died in 1915, after fighting in World War I. Vivian also wrote ‘Being Oscar Wilde’s Son’ and his son Oscar, became a writer, taking after his grandfather.Ìý

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