TheOscarauthor Wilde Oscar Wilde, born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1854 is famous as a poet, a writer and a dramatist1. His mother is a poet and a journalist and his father is a doctor. He studies in Ireland and at Oxford University in England. He travels in Europe and in 1882 he goes to the United States as a university lecturer2. When he leaves the US he says: I have civilised America . Oscar Wilde lives in the Victorian Age, the age of Queen Victoria, who rules3 Great Britain for over sixty years, from 1837 to 1901. Victorians believe that patriotism, marriage4 and going to church are very important; so those years are difficult for people like Oscar Wilde with unusual ideas about religion and life. In 1884 he marries Constance and they have two sons. In 1887 he writes The Canterville Ghost and in 1888 he writes his most famous children s story The Happy Prince for his sons. His most famous works are: The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), his only novel; The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), An Ideal Husband (1895) and A Woman of No Importance (1893). Unfortunately, Wilde spends two years in prison for immoral behaviour5. When he leaves prison, he goes to Paris; now he is alone and penniless6. In 1900 he dies, only forty-six years old. Oscar Wilde is famous for his aphorisms7. These are some of the most famous: All art is quite useless8 ; Illusion is the first of all pleasures ; The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible . 1. dramatist: a person who writes plays. 2. lecturer: a person who teaches at a university or college. 3. rules: has the power over a country. 4. marriage: the relationship between a husband and a wife. 5. behaviour: the way a person acts. 6. penniless: without any money. 7. aphorism: a short and clever sentence. 8. useless: not useful.