Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16, 1854. He was destined to become a famous playwright, and yet it was for his social circles that he is widely known. The author of the still popular The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Ernest and Salome, he would live to be 46, dying abruptly in exile. Witty and decadent, he was ultimately doomed to die a pariah after losing a court case against his lover's father for libel. Sentenced to two years hard labor, Oscar served out his penance in Reading gaol, writing only one last poem after his release. Best remembered for his writings and for his homosexuality, he remains a brilliant writer who explored the meaning of Roman Catholicism, love, sacrifice, Victorian morals, the meaning of life and the masks that men and women wear to hide the truth.
For the YouTube Playlist of this blog, with songs that didn't make the cut on this blog (as well as songs based off of the life and works of Oscar Wilde), the link is here.
References for this blog include:
Ellmann, Richard. (1987). Oscar Wilde.New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Pearce, Joseph. (2000). The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde. London, England: HarperCollins.
Walk away me boys
and by morning we'll be free
wipe that golden tear
from your mother dear
and raise what's left
of the flag for me
then the rosary beads
count them, 1-2-3
fell apart as they hit the floor
in a garb of black
we must pay respect
to the color we were born to mourn
Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. By the time he graduated college he would have shed both his Irish nationality and his accent. However, the Irish cause had been dear to him at one point. His mother, Jane "Speranza" Wilde, from whom Oscar inherited his love of clothes, decadence, and skillfulness in stretching the truth (he lied about his age on multiple occasions, including his marriage certificate and on trial), wrote this poem for her two sons: "I made them indeed / Speak plain the word Country. I taught them, no doubt, / That country's a thing one should die for at need." (Ellmann, 5).
This song represents Oscar's love for his mother as well as his Irish nationality. It also talks about the influence of Roman Catholicism, which would haunt Oscar his entire life. His mother baptized him in the Catholic church as a child, and Oscar flirted with religion his entire life, never completely committing to it. He could try to act like an Englishman, and write as a Frenchman, but he would be an Irishman still, and would rise to the occasion at the call. Whatever was left of Oscar's Irish history, he would raise it high.
Ellmann, Richard. (1987). Oscar Wilde.New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Pearce, Joseph. (2000). The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde. London, England: HarperCollins.
Hey Lucy, I remember your name
I left a dozen roses on your grave today
I'm in the grass on my knees, wiping the leaves away
I just came to talk for a while, got some things I need to say Now that it's over
I just wanna hold her
I'd give up all the world to see that little piece of heaven looking back at me
On February 23, 1867, Oscar Wilde's sister Isolde died. She was nine. Oscar was deeply troubled by her death, and wrote one of his first poems in honor of her, writing, "Tread lightly, she is near/ Under the snow/ Speak gently, she can hear/ The daisies grow."
This song by Skillet reminded me of Oscar's poem, as they both start off at the grave of a loved one. The sense of lose and mourning can be felt in this song. As Oscar never got over the death of his sister, this song seemed like the perfect fit.
Isolde was not the only sister Oscar would loose. His father had sired three other children out of wedlock, and Oscar's half-sisters, Emily and Mary, died in a horrific accident. One of their crinoline skirts caught fire at a party, and despite the two sister's attempts to beat it out, both died of severe burns. Thus Oscar lost all three of his sisters (Ellmann, 13). Before his death on November 30, 1900, he would lose his brother Willie and his wife, Constance, too. Isolde's death would be the first in a tragic cycle.
Ellmann, Richard. (1987). Oscar Wilde.New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Pearce, Joseph. (2000). The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde. London, England: HarperCollins.
Link to Video I don't give a d--- about my bad reputation.
Oscar Wilde was many things. At his worst, he was a dandy, accustomed to a decadent lifestyle, and intent on living beyond his means. "I have simple tastes," he said, "I am always satisfied with the best." His books and poetry were condemned as "immoral," and the one book Oscar ever wrote, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was highly disputed despite its overall Christian morals and themes (give your soul to the Devil, and you will surely regret it)."Since Oscar wrote Dorian Gray," his wife, Constance, remarked, "no one will speak to us." (Pearce, 170).
At the high point of Wilde's life, he had three plays being performed simultaneously. He was about to meet Lord Alfred Douglas, who may have been the love of his life, and he was involved with a man named John Gray, who was the inspiration for Dorian in The Picture of Dorian Gray (Pearce). Oscar had adapted a devil-may-care attitude. He was writing and making good money. He was famous and popular. His reputation proceeded him in popular magazines and in gossip, but no matter where he went, he was received and adored by multitudes.
What could go wrong?
Ellmann, Richard. (1987). Oscar Wilde.New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Pearce, Joseph. (2000). The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde. London, England: HarperCollins.
I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognize your beauty's not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart
You trick your lovers
That you're wicked and divine
You may be a sinner
But your innocence is mine
Oscar Wilde met Lord Alfred Douglas through a mutual friend in 1891. This meeting was to prove fatal to both individuals. They fell in love almost immediately, and both Oscar and Lord Alfred forgot themselves. Their affair was a slap in the face of Society and the standards of acceptability at the time, but neither seemed to care. Together, Oscar and Lord Alfred would do whatever they wanted to do, whenever they wanted to. Oscar Wilde would live to regret it.
This song is dark and, to me, symbolizes things that cannot be discussed openly on the surface. Oscar Wilde's fault here was in flaunting his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas to the point where Society could no longer ignore what was going on. This song is also classic Oscar. Muse references 'beauty as a mask,' a phrase Oscar would have loved. He thought Beauty was one of the few things worth living for, and as Oscar himself said, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” Through Wilde's works we can see the many masks he wore as a person. This song strips all of those masks bare.
There is also a hint of religion put into this song. Sodomy is recognized by most churches as a sin, and yet Oscar viewed love as the worship of another person, writing to a friend: "He [Douglas] lies like a hyacinth on the sofa, and I worship him." (Pearce, 203).
"They do not sin at all, who sin for love," Oscar wrote in The Duchess of Padua (Pearce, 290). This song seemed to capture this viewpoint perfectly.
Ellmann, Richard. (1987). Oscar Wilde.New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Pearce, Joseph. (2000). The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde. London, England: HarperCollins.
Since were feeling so anesthetized
In our comfort zone
Reminds me of the second time
That I followed you home
We're running out of alibi's
On the second of May
Reminds me of the summertime
On this winters day
You showered me with lullabies
As you're walking away
Reminds me that it's killing time
On this fateful day
See you at the bitter end
Oscar ruined himselfboth financially and socially for Lord Alfred. He spent a great deal of money on dinner and hotels to entertain his lover, and started to openly ignore his wife, Constance. Society began to talk. Lord Alfred's father, Queensbury, ordered his son to sever all contact with Wilde, but Alfred refused. The two indulged in passions until legal action was forced. The Marquess of Queensberry publically called Oscar a homosexual and insinuated that he had seduced his son and brought him into the lifestyle. Oscar sued him for libel, assuming that there would be insufficient proof of his supposed homosexuality. He was wrong.
Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years' hard labor, and during that time Oscar composed one of his greatest works, De Profundis.Oscar was forced to confront his demons throughout his two year sentence, and when he emerged from Reading gaol, he went into exile, dying only three years later.
This song symbolizes the day that Oscar realized the consequences of seeking only pleasure. It was the bitter end of Oscar Wilde. He had ruined his reputation, while that of Lord Alfred would remain partially intact, and he would spend his two years in Reading gaol writing De Profundis to try and make sense of the world he now found himself in. Written partially as a letter to Douglas and partially as a way for Oscar to make sense of religion, the demon that had haunted him his whole life, De Profundis is considered to be one of Oscar Wilde's greatest works. Angry, half-mad, and desperate, he found peace through the writing. "And at the end of it all is that I have to forgive you. I must do so. I don't write this letter to put bitterness into your heart, but to pluck it out of mine," he wrote to Lord Alfred (Pearce, 257).
If anyone--namely Constance, still flitting on the sidelines of Oscar's life--had hoped that his two years of hard labor would change him, they were wrong. Oscar met up with his lover when he got out of prison. For a time, the two continued their relationship, but it was not to be. The two parted ways in 1897.
Don't tell me if I'm dying, because I don't want to know If I can't see the sun, maybe I should go Don't wake me because I'm dreaming of angels on the moon Where everyone you know never leaves too soon
Oscar Wilde had been out of Reading gaol for three years. He lived in Paris, France, and a great deal of his friends had died or abandoned him. He was a social pariah when once he had been society's king. During the last three years of his life he had written only one thing, The Ballad of Reading Gaol. This song is slow and soft, and it brings to mind the dreams one always has for tomorrow. It is a hopeful nostalgic song, if you will pardon the oxymoron there; it is an acceptance of death.
The song starts off with the words, "Do you dream that the world will know your name?" This reminded me of Oscar for, shortly before he died, he said, "My time is short-my work is done-and when I cease to live, that work will begin to live. Ah! my work will live as long as men live to read it; my work will be my great monument." (Pearce, 287). The song goes on to talk about the value in living and feeling the sunlight, even if it causes pain. Oscar, who lived for pleasure, lived to feel the sting of excess pleasure--the sunburn, if you will. Now that he is dying, Oscar finds death pleasurable and looks forward to joining the angels on the moon.
Conclusion
Oscar Wilde was a talented writer and a public speaking genius. Yet despite all of this, he never seemed to know when to leave well enough alone. He lived in self-imposed exile from Ireland, the country of his birth, lamenting later that he had ruined the great and noble name of Wilde through his actions. He purposefully alienated himself from the good graces of his wife, which would haunt him forever, as he would be forbidden to see his two sons after his imprisonment.
For me, it seems that Oscar was too brilliant for his time. Unable to be interested in sports or women, he could only play at it. His heart was never in it, however. Like Hemingway pretending to have been a great football player, Wilde pretended at being "respectable" but found it, as most geniuses do, to be boring. This was where he fell. By allowing himself to be caught up by his passions, he lived to taste the bitterness of regret. Always an exile because of his thoughts and personality, Oscar was physically exiled as well. Death was probably a release for Oscar. His fall from grace and two years in Reading gaol changed him from a buoyant and happy person to a tired and sickly individual.
The songs on this playlist, in some way or another, connect with the idea of loss, bitterness, exile and the pursuit of passion no matter the cost. They represent Oscar's struggle with religion and respectability, normalcy and the nature of sin. But no matter the trials Wilde went through, his work lives on to inspire generation after generation. It is hard to believe it has been a century since his passing.
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde died on November 30, 1900. He was only forty-six.
Ellmann, Richard. (1987). Oscar Wilde.New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Pearce, Joseph. (2000). The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde. London, England: HarperCollins.
