Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde, who passed away 111 years ago.

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London’s most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, plays and the circumstances of his imprisonment, followed by his early death.

Wilde’s parents were successful Dublin intellectuals. Their son became fluent in French and German early in life. At university Wilde read Greats; he proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at Oxford. He became known for his involvement in the rising philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. He also profoundly explored Roman Catholicism, to which he would later convert on his deathbed. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles. As a spokesman for aestheticism, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States of America and Canada on the new “English Renaissance in Art”, and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde had become one of the most well-known personalities of his day… (more)

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde, who would be 157 years old today.

He was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London’s most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, plays and the circumstances of his imprisonment, followed by his early death.

Wilde’s parents were successful Dublin intellectuals. Their son became fluent in French and German early in life. At university Wilde read Greats; he proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at Oxford. He became known for his involvement in the rising philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. He also profoundly explored Roman Catholicism, to which he would later convert on his deathbed. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles. As a spokesman for aestheticism, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States of America and Canada on the new “English Renaissance in Art”, and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde had become one of the most well-known personalities of his day… (more)

Oscar Wilde, who was released from the prison Reading Gaol 114 years ago.

During his imprisonment, Oscar Wilde wrote a extraordinary letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, his intimate friend and lover. It can be seen in this piece that the author discovers that “the secret of life is suffering”. The atmosphere of these letter shows a man quite different from the cynical, smart, joyful and unmoral Oscar seen in most of his work. In fact, few people know this part of the author’s biography. Download here De Profundis: http://tcog.co/4YrRP and meet the deep, reflective and profound Oscar Wilde.

After his release from prison, Wilde wrote a poem entitled The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Here are some fragments taken from it:

Several passages from the poem have become famous in their own right:

Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard.
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!

The following passage has been pointed to as evidence of Wilde’s latent Christian sentiment even before his deathbed conversion to Roman Catholicism.^[4]

Ah! Happy they whose hearts can break
And peace of pardon win!
How else may man make straight his plan
And cleanse his soul from Sin?
How else but through a broken heart
May Lord Christ enter in?

A passage from the poem was chosen as the epitaph on Wilde’s tomb;

And alien tears will fill for him,
Pity’s long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always mourn.