Research on Oscar Wilde

• Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin on 16 October 1854. 
• His father was a successful surgeon and his mother a writer and literary hostess.
•  Wilde was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford. 
• While at Oxford, Wilde became involved in the aesthetic movement. 
• After he graduated, he moved to London to pursue a literary career
• A first volume of his poetry was published in 1881 but as well as composing verse, he contributed to publications such as the 'Pall Mall Gazette', wrote fairy stories and published a novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1891).
•  His greatest talent was for writing plays, and he produced a string of extremely popular comedies including 'Lady Windermere's Fan' (1892), 'An Ideal Husband (1895)' and 'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895). 'Salomé' was performed in Paris in 1896.
• Drama and tragedy marred Wilde's private life. 
• He married Constance Lloyd in 1884 and they had two sons, but in 1891 Wilde began an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, nicknamed 'Bosie'.
•  In April 1895, Wilde sued Bosie's father, the Marquis of Queensberry, for libel, after the Marquis has accused him of being homosexual. 
• Wilde lost and, after details of his private life were revealed during the trial, was arrested and tried for gross indecency. He was sentenced to two years of hard labour.
• While in prison he composed a long letter to Douglas, posthumously published under the title 'De Profundis'.
• His wife took their children to Switzerland and adopted the name 'Holland'. 
• Wilde was released with his health irrevocably damaged and his reputation ruined. 
• He spent the rest of his life in Europe, publishing 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' in 1898. He died in Paris on 30 November 1900.