1854: Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills
Wilde born in Dublin.
1871: began studying classics at
Trinity College Dublin
1874: began studies at Magdalen
College, Oxford (UK)
1878: won Newdigate Prize for his
poem Ravenna; takes degree
1879: settled in London
1881: Poems published
1882: began one year lecture tour
of North America
1883: Duchess of Padua (play)
written
1884: married Constance Lloyd and
lived in Chelsea (London)
1885: elder son, Cyril, born; writes
reviews for Pall Mall Gazette
1886: younger son, Vyvyan, born
1887: became editor of Woman's
World; The Canterville Ghost written
1888: The Happy Prince and Other
Tales
1889: The Portrait of Mr. W.
H.
1891: A House of Pomegranates,
The
Picture of Dorian Gray, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime,
Intentions
(essays); meets Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie")
1892: Lady Windermere's Fan
produced;
Salomé (written in French) banned
1893: A Woman of No Importance
produced; The Sphinx written
1894: Salomé published
1895: An Ideal Husband and
The
Importance of Being Earnest produced
1895: sued Marquess of Queensbury
for libel; sued by Marquess of Queensbury; found guilty of "unnatural practices";
sent to Reading Gaol (Berkshire)
1897: De Profundis written;
released from prison; lived in France, Italy and Switzerland; adopted name
of Sebastian Melmoth
1898: Ballad of Reading Gaol
published; death of wife, Constance
1900 November 30: died in France;
buried at Père Lachaise cemetery, Paris
Sources:
Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde
(London: Hamish Hamilton 1987)
Philippe Jullian, Oscar Wilde
(London: Constable 1969)