BIOGRAPHY:
Oscar Wilde , was born in Dublin, Irland (1854).His father
was a famous eye doctor, and was knighted for his excellent service to
Queen Victoria. His mother was a writer of patriotic Irish verse under
the pseudonym, Speranza. He was educated at Trinity College and later at
Oxford where he discovered the dangerous and delightful distinction of
being different from others. While studying at Oxford, Wilde was influenced
by Walter Pater and his doctrine of ART FOR ART’ SAKE. After moving to
London in 1879, Wilde greatly supported this belief and became the leader
and model of the aesthetic movement, which was based on this
doctrine. Wilde was a poet an authour his whole life. In 1884, he married
Constance Lloyd. They had two sons: Cyril and Vyvyan. In 1891, he met Alfred
Douglas, the poet son of the Marquess of Queensberry, and they became attracted
to each other. The Marquess found out about their association and charged
Wilde with homosexual offences. After two trials, Wilde was found guilty
and sentenced to two years of hard labor in prison. After he got out of
prison, Wilde left England for France and used the assumed name Sebastian,
after the Christian martyr. He died poor in 1900.
HIS MOST IMPORTANT WORKS ( CHRONOLOGY) :
*1881. Poems by Oscar Wilde.
*1881. Vera produced.
*1891. Meets Lord Alfred Douglas. The duchess of Padua produced in New
York as
Guido Ferranti. Publishes the revised Dorian Gray, Intentions, Lord
Arthur
Savile’s Crime and other Stories, A House of Pomegranates.
*1892. Lady Windermere’s Fan produced.
*1894. Salome is published in English translation. The Sphinix
and A Woman of No
Importance produced.
*1895. An Ideal husband and The Importance of being Earnest
produced in London. In
this year, Wilde charges Lord Alfred Douglas’s father with libel.
*1897. Writes De Profundis ( a long letter to Lord Alfred Douglas)
in prison. On his
release Wilde writes to the Daily Chronicle about the treatment of children
in
prison.
*1898. Publishes The Ballad of Reading Gaol in prison.
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