Oscar Wilde, a highly controversial Irish poet and dramatist, was born in Dublin, 1854, to unconventional parents. His mother was a poet and journalist, his father a gifted writer and a specialist in diseases of the eyes and ears. They gave Oscar a traditional education and he received high achievements with a B.A. from the Magdalen College, Oxford in 1878.

Oscar Wilde, the prolific writer and poet, moved to London upon graduation, 1878, and assumed a lifestyle of lecturing, writing for many publications, and traveling many continents using his humorous wit. He also became the spokesperson for Aestheticism, the late 19th century movement in England that advocated art for art's sake. He became a regular contributor to several magazines and later, published fairy tale stories for his children.

During the years 1889-1890, Wilde produced several essays and two major literary-theoretical works meeting high critical acclaim. He went on to make his reputation in the theatre world between the years 1892 and 1895 with a series of popular plays, including the famous Salome.

In 1884, Oscar Wilde married Constance Lloyd and had two sons. Even so, Oscar's private life was always subject to questionable rumors. Although he wrote and lectured to support his family, Oscar could not out-live the rumors of his homosexuality. His marriage to Constance was short-lived, divorcing in 1893.

Wilde made many associations during the years, prior to his marriage. Oscar and his friends including an illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, the painter Walter Sickert, and Wilde's eventual lover Lord Alfred Douglas, often haunted the Cafe des Tribuneaux, a curious building, with a clock-towered gable and wrought iron covered well outside, which allowed them privacy from the outside world, even though, later, the world would make Wilde's private life very public.

In 1895, Oscar Wilde's years of success ended dramatically in Britain, when his intimate association with Alfred Douglas led to his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality. He was sentenced to two years hard labor for the crime of sodomy. While in prison, Wilde continued to write and produced a dramatic monologue and autobiography, addressed to Alfred Douglas.

After his release in 1897, Wilde wrote one last ballad, revealing his concern for inhumane prison conditions. Oscar Wilde died of cerebral meningitis on November 30, 1900, penniless, in a cheap Paris hotel at the age of 46.