Oscar Wilde :: essays research papers

Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde (real name Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde) was born on October 16th, 1854 in Dublin. His father, William Robert Wilde, was an eminent eye doctor, with an interest in myths and folklore. He was the founder of the first eye and ear hospital in Great Britain, as well as the appointed Surgeon Occultist to the Queen, who knighted him. His mother, Jane Francesca Elgee Wilde, was a poet who wrote patriotic Irish verse under the pen name Speranza, and had a considerable following. As a youngster, Wilde was exposed to the brilliant literary talk of the day at his mother's Dublin salon. In 1864 Wilde entered the Portora Royal School at Enniskillen, and in 1871 entered Trinity College in Dublin. In 1874 he left Ireland and went to England to attend Magdalen College at Oxford. As a student there, he excelled in classics, wrote poetry, and incorporated the Bohemian life style of his youth into a unique way of life. He came under the influence of aesthetic innovators such as English writers Walter Pater and John Ruskin. He found the aesthetic movement's notions of "art for art's sake" and dedicating one's life to art suitable to his temperament and talents. As an aesthete, Wilde wore long hair and velvet knee breeches, and became known for his eccentricity as well as his academic ability. His rooms were filled with various objets d'art such as sunflowers, peacock feathers, and blue china. Wilde frequently confided that his greatest challenge at University was learning to live up to the perfection of the china. Wilde won numerous academic prizes while studying there, including the Newdigate Prize, a coveted poetry award, for his poem Ravenna. In 1879 Wilde moved to London to make himself famous. He set about establishing himself as the leader and model of the aesthetic movement. Besides his hair and breeches, he added loose-fitting wide-collared silk shirts with flowing ties and lavender colored gloves. He frequently carried a jewel-topped cane and was caricatured in the press flamboyantly attired and holding an over- sized sunflower, an icon of the movement. Wilde quickly became well known despite having any substantial achievements to build on. His natural wit and good humor endeared him to the art and theater world, and through his lover Frank Miles, he found it easy to become part of the cliques that frequented London's theater circuit and drawing rooms. He became a much desired party guest, and eventually his popularity led to his being chosen as an advance publicity man for a new Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, Patience, that spoofed