A Famous Poet that I Like Part1

1)Ask yourself why you chose this particular poet. Why is he/she intriguing? Begin with an interesting fact, quote from a literary critic, an interview with the poet, etc. and move on to a thesis (yes, a thesis) which is not just a statement of fact, such as Sylvia Plath is a deeply disturbed woman. Think about what you feel about the poet’s work after having done the research; create a claim or opinion about him/her and let the reader know in the thesis what exactly you will be covering in the paper.

2)Background and historical context. Biographical information is fine, but make sure that it provides insight into the writer and his/her work .

3)Three poems by the poet

All outside source material or links must be cited.
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Famous Quotes

I found many of Oscar Wilde quotes, thanks to http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/oscar_wilde/quotes,
but of course I have just chosen the ones I find meaningful, brilliant or simply amusing.

"A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing."

"A poet can survive everything but a misprint."

"A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."

"A true friend stabs you in the front."

"All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling."

"Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much."

"Ambition is the last refuge of the failure."

"An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all."

"I have nothing to declare except my genuis."

"I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best."

"No man is rich enough to buy back his past."

I find Oscar Wilde interesting because his life was a pretty tragic one, yet at the same time quirky and amusing. The early years of his life shown him to be very eccentric, as shown from the manner in which his unconventional parents behaved, etc. However, he was a victim of olden-day laws, a society where homosexuality was greatly condemned. His time in jail really changed his viewpoint on human beings, becoming more sadistic and pessimistic.
His quotes are also witty and some of them strike thought in me.
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Biography

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was born in Dublin to parents. His mother, Lady Jane Francesca Wilde (1820-1896), was a poet and journalist. Wilde's father was Sir William Wilde, an Irish antiquarian, gifted writer, and specialist in diseases of the eye and ear, who founded a hospital in Dublin a year before Oscar was born.
Already at the age of 13, Wilde's tastes in clothes were dandy's.
"The flannel shirts you sent in the hamper are both Willie's mine are one quite scarlet and the other lilac but it is too hot to wear them yet,"
He wrote in a letter to his mother. Willie, whom he mentioned, was his elder brother. It has been said that Lady Wilde insisted on dressing Oscar in girl's clothers because she had longed for a girl. In Oxford Wilde shocked many with his irreverent attitude towards religion and was jeered at his eccentric clothes. He collected blue china and peacock's feathers, and later his velvet knee-breeches drew much attention. In 1878 Wilde received his B.A. and on the same year he moved to London. His lifestyle and humorous wit made him soon spokesman for Aestheticism, the late 19th century movement in England that advocated art for art's sake. He worked as art reviewer , lectured in the United States and Canada , and lived in Paris. Between the years 1883 and 1884 he lectured in Britain. In 1884 Wilde married Constance Lloyd (died 1898) and to support his family Wilde edited in 1887-89 Woman's World magazine. In 1888 he published The Happy Prince and Other Tales, fairy-stories written for his two sons. The Picture of Dorian Gray followed in 1890 and next year he brought out more fairy tales. The marriage ended in 1893.

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it," Wilde once said.

Before the theatrical success Wilde produced several essays, many of these anonymously.

"Anybody can write a three-volume novel. It merely requires a complete ignorance of both life and literature," he once stated.
His two major literary-theoretical works were the dialogues 'The Decay of Lying' (1889) and 'The Critic as Artist' (1890). In the latter Wilde lets his character state, that criticism is the superior part of creation, and that the critic must not be fair, rational, and sincere, but possessed of "a temperament exquisitely susceptible to beauty". In a more traditional essay The Soul of a Man Under Socialism (1891) Wilde takes an optimistic view of the road to socialist future. He rejects the Christian ideal of self-sacrifice in favor of joy.
His years of triumph ended dramatically, when his intimate association with Alfred Douglas led to his trial on charges of homosexuality (then illegal in Britain). He was sentenced two years hard labour for the crime of sodomy. During his first trial Wilde defended himself, that "the 'Love that dare not speak its name' in this century is nothing unnatural." Mr. Justice Wills, stated when pronouncing the sentence, that "people who can do these things must be dead to all senses of shame, and one cannot hope to produce any effect upon them." During the trial and while he served his sentence, Bosie stood by Wilde, although the author felt himself betrayed. Later they met in Naples. Wilde was first in Wandsworth prison, London, and then Reading Gaol. When he was at last allowed pen and paper after more than 19 months of deprivation, Wilde had became inclined to take opposite views on the potential of humankind toward perfection. During this time he wrote De Profundis (1905), a dramatic monologue and autobiography, which was addressed to Alfred Douglas. "Everything about my tragedy has been hideous, mean, repellent, lacking in style. Our very dress makes us grotesques. We are the zanies of sorrow. We are the clowns whose hearts are broken." (De Profundis) After his release in 1897 Wilde lived under the name Sebastian Melmoth in Berneval, near Dieppe, then in Paris. He wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol, revealing his concern for inhumane prison conditions. It is said, that on his death bed Wilde became a Roman Catholic. He died of cerebral meningitis on November 30, 1900, penniless, in a cheap Paris hotel at the age of 46. "Do you want to know the great drama of my life," asked Wilde before his death of Andre Gide.
"It's that I have put my genius into my life; all I've put into my works is my talent."
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