Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

, County Dublin

• Save to: MyDublin

A year after Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born at 21 Westland Row the family moved to no.1 Merrion Square . The statue to Oscar Wilde in Merrion Square Park stands opposite to his childhood home.

He attended Trinity College, Dublin and won a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. He became a renowned dramatist, poet and wit and was a very popular guest at the parties of the social elite. His only novel was The Picture of Dorian Gray. He wrote several plays including his masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest.

His tragic imprisonment for homosexual crimes from 1895-97 produced another great work The Ballad of Reading Gaol but also broke his health and his finances. He died in circumstances of poverty, thankfully with a couple of faithful friends in attendance, in a lonely Paris hotel room.