What is Oscar Wilde?
[[File:Oscar Wilde portrait by Napoleon Sarony - albumen.jpg|thumb|200px]] '''Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde''' (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an [[Irish people|Irish]] [[writer]], [[poet]] and [[playwright]]. He wrote ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'', and the plays ''[[Salomé]]'', ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'', ''[[An Ideal Husband]]'', and ''[[Lady Windermere's Fan]]''. Wilde was [[bisexual]]. He had a wife and two children. He had an affair with a younger man named [[Lord Alfred Douglas]]. This affair ruined his life. ==Biography== [[File:Oscar wilde house targhe.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Memorial plaque in [[Dublin]]]] Wilde was born in Ireland in 1854. He went to school at Trinity College in [[Dublin]]. Then he went to the Magdalen College (part of [[Oxford University]].) In London, he worked as a [[journalist]] for four years. He was very well known in his time. This was because he [[Dandy|dressed well]] and was very good at [[conversation]]. He was also well known because he wrote a [[novel]] called ''The Picture of Dorian Gray.'' He also wrote [[Play (theatre)|plays]]. In 1891, he wrote a play called ''Salomé.'' He wrote it in French while living in [[Paris]]. No one could perform it in England, because there were characters from the [[Bible]] in it. This did not discourage him. He then wrote four comedic plays in the early 1890s. He was one of the most successful playwrights of the time. His masterpiece was the play called ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]].'' When he was very famous, he sued his lover's father for [[Defamation|libel]] (lying about someone in print). There were many trials. In the end, the court sentenced Wilde to two years of work in [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] Gaol ([[jail]]). The crime was [[gross indecency]] (sexual contact with other men). After he went to prison, his wife went to [[Switzerland]] with their children. She changed their last names to Holland. While he was in prison, he wrote a long letter called ''De Profundis''. ''De Profundis'' wa