Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854–1900) was an author, poet and one of the best-known playwrights in the English canon. His private life is widely discussed, since his sexuality and relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas led him to his being convicted for ‘gross indecency’. He was sentenced to two years’ hard labour, and while in prison he wrote De Profundis, a letter to Douglas describing the trials of his incarceration, which was eventually published in expurgated form. He is best remembered today for his short-story collections for children, The Happy Prince and A House of Pomegranates, his poetry, especially The Ballad of Reading Gaol, his novel Dorian Gray and his plays – particularly Salome and his drawing-room and society comedies Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest.
