Oscar Wilde Works, Novels, Plays, EBooks, Literature

Oscar Wilde Works & Literature

About Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born into a Protestant Anglo-Irish family, at 21 Westland Row, Dublin. His fame as a writer and celebrity in London reached relative highs because of his clever wit and role in the aesthetic and decadent movements. Son to a well known surgeon and a famous writer, Wilde was schooled at home until the age of nine. Afterwards, he attended Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, Fermanagh until 1871. His exceptional intellectual abilities landed him a scholarship to Oxford while he studied classics at Trinity College, Dublin. He graduated with a double first, the highest grade available at Oxford. During his college years, Wilde familiarized himself with the philosophies and writings on same-sex love, and lived for several years with his lover, Frank Miles. When he returned to Dublin, he instantly fell in love with a woman by the name of Florence Balcome, who broke his heart with her marriage to Bram Stoker. When Wilde was in London, lecturing on Gaiety Theatre, he met Constance Lloyd. They were married on May 29, 1884 and had two sons, Cyril (1885) and Vyvyan (1886). Constance's mother was the wealthy Queen's Counsel Horace Llyod and her background allowed the Wilde's to live in relative luxury. After acquiring a reputation as one of Victorian London's best playwrights, novelists, poets, and short story writers, Wilde's was convicted of gross indecency for his sexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas and sentenced to two hard years of labor in 1895. After his release, Wilde spent the rest of his days under the assumed name of 'Sebastian Melmoth.' Wilde died of cerebral meningitis on November 30, 1900.