Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was born in Dublin to Sir William Wilde and his wife Jane. While studying at Oxford, he was fascinated by the aesthetic movement and eventually became a proponent for L'art pour l'art ("Art for Art's Sake") and wrote the award-winning poem "Ravenna." Upon graduating in 1879, he moved to London to review art, write poetry and lecture in the UK, the United States and Canada. In 1884, Mr. Wilde married Constance Lloyd and, in the course of their turbulent marriage, had two sons.

His first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was published in 1891 and has been adapted for film and stage. Mr. Wilde's first successful theatrical endeavor, Lady Windermere's Fan, opened in 1892. He went on to create the wonderfully popular comedies A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and the classic The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Not long afterward, Mr. Wilde was publicly accused of homosexuality and arrested for gross indecency. During his time in prison, he wrote De Profundis, a dramatic monologue and autobiography, which was addressed to his lover Bosie. Three years after his release in 1897, he died of cerebral meningitis in a rundown Paris hotel.

Known for his philosophical wit and irreverent charm, Mr. Wilde is famously quoted as saying, "Life is too important to be taken seriously."