The death of Oscar Wilde

1900 Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde (b. 1854), Irish wit, playwright, self-professed anarchist, and gay pioneer, died of cerebral meningitis, following an ear infection, at the age of 46 in a Paris rooming house.

For he who lives more lives than one,
more deaths than one must die.

Dublin-born Wilde published in 1890 The Soul of Man Under Socialism, which is characterized by its libertarian non-conformism. In 1895, he was condemned to two years hard labour for his homosexuality.

He wrote De Profundis while in prison, exalting revolutionary action and political agitation. This small book was not published in its entirety until 44 years later.

Wilde was released, practically a broken man, on May 19, 1897, spending his last years penniless on the Continent, under the name of Sebastian Melmoth in self-inflicted exile from society and artistic circles. He chose his name from St Sebastian, who was killed by archers (suggested by the broad arrows on Wilde’s prison uniform), and Melmoth, a family name ...

Categories: poetry, biography, uk, gay, literature, history, english-literature, ireland