Presentation about this writer
 Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16
October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an
Irish playwright, poet and author of
numerous short stories and one novel.
Known for his biting wit, he became one of
the most successful playwrights of the late
Victorian era in London, and one of the
greatest celebrities of his day. Several of his
plays continue to be widely performed,
especially The Importance of Being
Earnest. As the result of a widely covered
series of trials, Wilde suffered a dramatic
downfall and was imprisoned for two
years' hard labour after being convicted of
homosexual relationships, described as
"gross indecency" with other men. After
Wilde was released from prison he set sail
for Dieppe by the night ferry. He never
returned to Ireland or Britain.
 Oscar Wilde was born at 21 Westland Row, Dublin. He was the second son of
Sir William Wilde and his wife Jane Francesca Wilde. Jane Wilde, under the
pseudonym "Speranza" (Italian word for 'hope'), wrote poetry for the
revolutionary Young Irelanders in 1848 and was a life-long Irish nationalist.
William Wilde was Ireland's leading oto-ophthalmologic (ear and eye) surgeon
and was knighted in 1864 for his services to medicine. He also wrote books
about archaeology and folklore. A renowned philanthropist, his dispensary for
the care of the city's poor at the rear of Trinity College, Dublin, was the
forerunner of the Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital, now located at Adelaide Road.
 In 1855, the family moved to 1 Merrion Square, where Wilde's sister, Isola, was
born the following year. Lady Wilde held a regular Saturday afternoon salon
with guests that included Sheridan le Fanu, Charles Lever, George Petrie, Isaac
Butt and Samuel Ferguson.
 Oscar Wilde was educated at home until he was nine. He then attended
Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, Fermanagh, spending the summer months
with his family in rural Waterford, Wexford and at his father's family home in
Mayo. There Wilde played with the older George Moore.

Leaving Portora, Wilde studied classics at Trinity College, Dublin, from 1871 to 1874, sharing rooms
with his older brother Willie Wilde. His tutor, John Pentland Mahaffy, the leading Greek scholar at
Trinity, interested him in Greek literature. Wilde was an outstanding student and won the Berkeley
Gold Medal, the highest award available to classics students at Trinity. He was awarded a scholarship
to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied from 1874 to 1878 and became a part of the Aesthetic
movement; one of its tenets was to make an art of life.

Wilde had a disappointing relationship with the prestigious Oxford Union. On matriculating in 1874,
he had applied to join the Union, but failed to be elected. Nevertheless, when the Union's librarian
requested a presentation copy of Poems (1881), Wilde complied. After a debate called by Oliver Elton,
the book was condemned for alleged plagiarism and returned to Wilde.

While at Magdalen, Wilde won the 1878 Newdigate Prize for his poem Ravenna, which he read at
Encaenia; he failed to win the Chancellor's English Essay Prize with an essay that would be published
posthumously as The Rise of Historical Criticism (1909). In November 1878, he graduated with a
double first in classical moderations and Literae Humaniores, or "Greats".

At Oxford University, Wilde petitioned a Masonic Lodge and was later raised to the sublime degree of
Master Mason retaining his membership in the Craft until his death.

Wilde was greatly disliked by some of his fellow students, who threw his china out of his room.
 For much of his life, Wilde advocated socialism, which he argued "will be of
value simply because it will lead to individualism". He also had a strong
libertarian streak as shown in his poem Sonnet to Liberty and, subsequent to
reading the works of Peter Kropotkin (whom he described as "a man with a
soul of that beautiful white Christ which seems coming out of Russia");he
declared himself an anarchist. Other political influences on Wilde may have
been William Morris and John Ruskin. Wilde was also a pacifist and quipped
that "When liberty comes with hands dabbled in blood it is hard to shake
hands with her". In addition to his primary political text, the essay The Soul of
Man under Socialism, Wilde wrote several letters to the Daily Chronicle
advocating prison reform and was the sole signatory of George Bernard Shaw's
petition for a pardon of the anarchists arrested (and later executed) after the
Haymarket massacre in Chicago in 1886.
 In Lady Florence Dixie's 1890 novel "Gloriana, or the Revolution of 1900"
women win the right to vote after the protagonist, Gloriana, poses as a man to
get elected to the House of Commons. The male character she impersonates is
clearly based on that of Wilde. Dixie was an aunt of Lord Alfred Douglas.
 After graduation from Oxford, Wilde returned to Dublin, where he met
and courted Florence Balcombe. She, however, became engaged to the
writer Bram Stoker. On hearing of her engagement, Wilde wrote to her
stating his intention to leave Ireland permanently. He left in 1878, and
returned to his native country only twice, for brief visits. He spent the
next six years in London and Paris, and in the United States, where he
travelled to deliver lectures. Wilde's address in the 1881 British Census
is given as 1 Tite Street, London. The head of the household is listed as
Frank Miles, with whom Wilde shared rooms at this address.
 In London, he met Constance Lloyd, daughter of wealthy Queen's
Counsel Horace Lloyd. She was visiting Dublin in 1884, when Wilde
was in the city to give lectures at the Gaiety Theatre. He proposed to
her, and they married on 29 May 1884 in Paddington, London.
Constance's allowance of £250 allowed the Wildes to live in relative
luxury. The couple had two sons, Cyril (1885) and Vyvyan (1886).
 After Wilde's downfall, Constance took the surname
Holland for herself and the boys. She died in 1898
following spinal surgery and was buried in Monumental
Cemetery of Staglieno in Genoa, Italy. Cyril was killed in
France in World War I. Vyvyan also served in the War and
later became an author and translator. In 1954, he
published his memoirs, entitled Son of Oscar Wilde, which
relate the difficulties he and his family faced in the wake of
his father's imprisonment. Vyvyan's son, Merlin Holland,
has edited and published several works about his
grandfather. Wilde's niece, Dolly Wilde, had a lengthy
lesbian relationship with writer Natalie Clifford Barney,
which is documented in Joan Schenkar's book, Truly
Wilde: The Story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar's Unusual Niece.
Wilde’s portret by Napoleon Sarony
House of O. Wilde
Wilde and Lord
Alfred Douglas in
1893
Karol
Skrzypczak