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Oscar Wilde

Irish poet, playwright, and aesthete (1854-1900) · Ireland · Writers · Died at 46 · also United Kingdom · also France

Oscar Wilde is read about 8,261 times a day, in 133 languages.

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The man who turned wit into an art form and then watched it fail him in court. Wilde's epigrammatic brilliance made him the toast of Victorian London until a libel suit he filed unraveled into his own prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment for "gross indecency."

WritersWriter / AuthorPoetryTheatreFictionLiteratureScreenwriting19th Century

A life in dates

2025125 years since their death, on 30 November.30 November 20251907ApologiaBook published after his death, poem by Oscar Wilde1905De ProfundisBook published after his death, literary work by Oscar WildeSebastian MelmothBook published after his death1900Died30 November 19001889“All charming people, I fancy, are spoiled. It is the secret of their attraction.”In their wordsJuly 1889"The Portrait of Mr. W. H.", Blackwood's Magazine (July 1889)

1887“A simile committing suicide is always a depressing spectacle.”In their words30 May 1887"The Poets' Corner III", The Pall Mall Gazette (30 May 1887)

“Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.”In their words17 February 1887"A New Calendar", The Pall Mall Gazette (February 17, 1887)

1885“And down the long and silent street, The dawn, with silver-sandalled feet, Crept like a frightened girl.”In their words11 April 1885

“Be warned in time, James, and remain, as I do, incomprehensible: to be great is to be misunderstood.”In their words23 February 1885Letter to James McNeill Whistler (23 February 1885)

“And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.”In their words"The Philosophy of Dress", The New-York Tribune, 1885. For an analysis see Fashion a Form of Ugliness, oscarwildeinamerica.org (retrieved 9

1878Newdigate PrizeAward1854Born16 October 1854

Also in Deutsch

Photos 12

The Wilde family home on Merrion SquareThe Wilde family home on Merrion SquareOscar Wilde at Oxford in 1876Oscar Wilde at Oxford in 1876Photograph by Elliott & Fry of Baker Street, London, 1881Photograph by Elliott & Fry of Baker Street, London, 18811881 caricature in Punch, the caption reads: "O.W.", "O, I feel just as happy as a bright sunflower!", Lays of Christy Minstrelsy, "Æsthete of Æsthetes!/What's in a name?/The poet is Wilde/But his poetry's tame."1881 caricature in Punch, the caption reads: "O.W.", "O, I feel just as happy as a bright sunflower!", Lays of Christy Minstrelsy, "Æsthete of Æsthetes!/What's in a name?/The poet is Wilde/But his poetry's tame."Wilde lectured on "The English Renaissance" in art during his US and Canada tour in 1882.Wilde lectured on "The English Renaissance" in art during his US and Canada tour in 1882.Keller cartoon from the Wasp of San Francisco depicting Wilde on the occasion of his visit there in 1882Keller cartoon from the Wasp of San Francisco depicting Wilde on the occasion of his visit there in 1882

In their own words 10

,
Oscar Wilde
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.

    Jul 1889, Own words

  2. All charming people, I fancy, are spoiled. It is the secret of their attraction.

    Jul 1889, "The Portrait of Mr. W. H.", Blackwood's Magazine (July 1889), Own words

  3. A simile committing suicide is always a depressing spectacle.

    May 30, 1887, "The Poets' Corner III", The Pall Mall Gazette (30 May 1887), Own words

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Awards

Newdigate Prize, University of Oxford1878

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Oscar Wilde

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Born in Dublin to Anglo-Irish intellectuals, Wilde proved himself an exceptional classicist at Trinity and Oxford, where he absorbed the aestheticism of tutors Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university he moved to London and tried everything - poems, lectures across America on interior decoration, periodical reviews - becoming known as much for flamboyant dress and conversational glitter as for the work itself. At the turn of the 1890s he hit his stride: The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890, then four society comedies that made him the most successful playwright of late-Victorian London. At the peak, with An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest still running, he sued the Marquess of Queensberry for libel over the man's accusations about Wilde's relationship with the Marquess's son, Lord Alfred Douglas. The suit backfired; evidence surfaced that led Wilde to drop his case, then face his own arrest and two trials for gross indecency with other males. Convicted in the second, he served two years' hard labour, during which he wrote De Profundis, a spiritual reckoning that inverted his earlier gospel of pleasure. Released in 1897, he took the overnigh

Country
Ireland
Category
Writers
Type
Writer / Author
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1854 to 1900 · aged 46

Writers from Ireland 6

Samuel Beckett75.3Bram Stoker70.2Marian Keyes68.4Sally Rooney63.5Colm Tóibín61.1Cecelia Ahern60.8

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