Oscar Wilde: biography, works and phrases

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), an important British writer and poet, is the author of classics. He wrote dramas, novels, poetry, children's stories and The Portrait of Dorian Gray, his only novel, which is considered notable and which was published in 1891.

He was born in Dublin on October 16, 1854. His full name is Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde. His father, William Wilde, was a doctor and his mother, Jane Francesca Elgee, a writer.

From an early age he showed that he was brilliant. He excelled in academic life by winning awards at school and at university he received the Newdigate Prize for the poem Ravenna. It was the greatest honor students could receive.

Oscar Wilde's photo sitting

He was one of the main proponents of Aestheticism, also known as Dandism. O aestheticism it was an artistic movement that valued beauty over other values, such as moral values.

He graduated in 1878 and in 1882 traveled to the United States of America (USA), where he spent 9 months giving lectures.

In 1884 he married the Englishwoman Constance Lloyde, the daughter of a lawyer. From this relationship he had two children and for them he wrote The Happy Prince, the Selfish Giant and The Nightingale and the Rose.

He had an extravagant life, which would have led to his arrest in 1895. His penalty, of two years in prison, included forced labor.

Oscar Wilde was allegedly accused of committing immoral acts with a young man suspected of being his lover.

It was while he was in prison that he wrote De Profundis, which was a letter to this lover.

After leaving prison in 1897 he moved to Paris. He lost his fame and started writing little. There he used the pseudonym Sebastian Melmoth.

Wilde, who had a brilliant talent, drank, had syphilis and 3 years later he died in Paris, poor, after catching meningitis. He was 46 years old.

Construction

  • Ravenna (1878)
  • The Crime of Lord Arthur Saville (1888)
  • The Ghost of Canterville (1888)
  • The Happy Prince (1888)
  • The Portrait of Dorian Gray (1891)
  • The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891)
  • Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)
  • A Woman of No Importance (1893)
  • An Ideal Husband (1895)
  • The Importance of Being Prudent (1895)
  • De Profundis (1895)
  • Reading Jail Ballad (1898)

Sentences

Oscar Wilde was known for creating sarcastic phrases, among which we highlight:

  • "Talking is having too much regard for others. Through the mouth the fish and Oscar Wilde die."
  • "With every beautiful impression we make, we conquer an enemy. To be popular it is essential to be mediocre."
  • "Life is too important to be taken seriously."
  • "One must choose friends for beauty, acquaintances for character, enemies for intelligence."
  • "When I was young, I thought money was the most important thing in the world. Today, I'm sure."

To enrich your knowledge of literature, be sure to read the texts below:

  • Virginia Woolf
  • Gothic Prose
  • Sherlock Holmes: biography and trivia
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