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Oscar Wilde: Genius interrupted
By | December 18, 2007
Oscar Wilde is one of the most famous poets and playwrights in history. He was highly misunderstood and got great critical acclaim as well as drew a lot of criticism from society for both his literature as well as his lifestyle. Although he gained fame and popularity through his plays like Lady Windermere’s Fan and The importance of being earnest as well as The Happy Prince and the extremely infamous and controversial The Picture of Dorian Gray, he also wrote a lot of poetry and in the initial phases of his career his poetry was termed as ‘shallow’ and ‘tame’. Later however after his return from America Wilde wrote his best work and became a hugely popular member of London society.
Wilde was born on the 16th of October, 1964 in Dublin, the capital city of Ireland to parents of quite some literary talent. His father was Sir William Wilde who was an antiquarian and also quite a gifted writer and his mother Lady Jane Francesca Wilde was a poet and a journalist and wrote several revolutionary poems roughly around the same time as Wilde’s birth. Wilde studied at Trinity College, Dublin and at Magdalen College, Oxford from where he received his B.A in 1978.
Famed for his witty repertoire and lifestyle, Wilde soon became an authority on aestheticism and this also took him to the United States and France. He soon became known for his skill and he contributed to numerous magazines and also was appointed the editor of a women’s magazine Lady’s World.
Soon however he received criticism because of The Picture of Dorian Gray which spoke about a homosexual young man and this shocked Victorian London and earned Wilde a lot of criticism. Wilde also at the same time became involved with Alfred Douglas, a relationship which became quite public. Homosexuality was then illegal in Britain and soon Wilde went to prison and spent two years in Redding Jail. Upon his release a few poems were published but by then Wilde’s career had already begun the rapid path towards the end. He was penniless and had very few or no friends. After reuniting with Douglas for a few months, Wilde left for France where he died penniless and alone in a Paris hotel of celebral meningitis at the age of 46.
Shunned and criticized for the later part of his life because of his homosexual tendencies which were then illegal and shocking to Victorian society, Wilde became immensely popular after the 1950s where his works began to be read in universities around the world and are finally being understood.
Topics: Famous Poets |
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