Thomas Wilde Research Paper

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born October 16, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. Born to William Wilde, an acclaimed doctor, and Jane Elgee, a skilled linguist and poet, it was quite fitting that Wilde grew up a very intelligent child. Wilde attended Portora Royal School at Enniskillen, where he fell in love with Greek and Roman studies. He was honoured top classics student in each of his last two years, and was awarded the Royal School Scholarship to attend Trinity College in Dublin. In 1972 he once again placed first in the school’s classics examination and was awarded the college’s Foundation Scholarship. Upon Wilde’s graduation, he was awarded the Berkeley Gold Medal as his college’s best student in Greek, as well as the Demyship scholarship

His poem “Ravenna” won the Newdigate Prize for the best English verse composition by an Oxford undergraduate. Moving to London to live with his friend, Wilde continued to focus on writing poetry, publishing his first collection, Poems, in 1881. Achieving modest critical praise, Wilde began to travel around New York City delivering 140 lectures in just nine months. Wilde met with some of the leading American scholars, developing particular admiration for Walt Whitman, saying “[there] is no one in this wide great world of America whom I love and honor so much.” Upon conclusion of his American tour, Wilde commenced another lecture circuit of Ireland and England that lasted until 1884. During these tours, Wilde established himself as a leading proponent of the aesthetic movement. On May 29, 1884, Wilde married a wealthy Englishwoman named Constance Lloyd. They had two sons: Cyril and Vyvyan, born in 1885 and 1886

Later that year, Douglas’ father found out and left a calling card for Wilde addressed to “Oscar Wilde: Posing Somdomite”- a misspelling of sodomite. Although Wilde’s homosexuality was something of an open secret, he was so outraged that he sued him for libel, a decision that would ruin Wilde’s life. The trial came to a quick close when Douglas’ father, the Marquis of Queensberry, presented evidence of Wilde’s homosexuality including passages from his literary works, as well as his letters to Douglas. Wilde’s case was dismissed and he was arrested for charges of “gross indecency.” On May 25th, 1895 Wilde was sentenced to two years in prison, and once he emerged in 1897, he was physically depleted, emotionally exhausted, and flat broke. He spent the final years of his life with next to no success, living in cheap hotels and friends’