|
Birth
|
October 16, 1854
|
|
Death
|
November 30, 1900
|
|
Place of Birth
|
Dublin, Ireland
|
|
Known for
|
Witty, often paradoxical, sayings that lampoon the social mores and behavior of the English upper classes of his time
|
|
Championing the aesthetic movement, which is based on the idea of art for art's sake
|
|
Milestone
|
1878 Graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in classics
|
|
1881 Published Poems, a collection of poetry
|
|
January - October 1882 Lectured on English aestheticism in the United States and Canada
|
|
1882 Vera, or the Nihilists, his first play, is produced in New York but is not successful
|
|
1891 Published his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which portrayed the moral decay of its title character
|
|
February 1892 The play Lady Windermere's Fan, the first of four successful comedies, opened in London.
|
|
June 1892 Rehearsals for the play Salomé were halted by the British censor because of a law forbidding the representation of Biblical characters on stage.
|
|
February 1895 The Importance of Being Earnest, the last and most popular of his comedies, was produced in London.
|
|
May 1895 Was convicted of homosexual acts following three sensationalized trials, and received a sentence of two years' hard labor
|
|
1897 Released from prison, Wilde left immediately for France where he lived the rest of his life, publishing only the poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898).
|
|
Did You Know
|
Wilde's flamboyant personality and eccentric dress were parodied in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta, Patience (1881).
|
|
Wilde's most popular plays satirized the English upper classes- the very audience for whom they were intended.
|
|
Wilde's mother was a poetess and Irish nationalist known as Speranza.
|
|
Wilde's full name was Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, in deference to his Irish heritage.
|
Hotmail
Messenger
My MSN
MSN Directory
