Wilde Thing Collage

Oscar Wilde is one of the great wits of all time, an eccentric, wise-cracking dandy whose astute and clever observations on Victorian society, manners and human behaviour made literary history. He was also a very sensitive and perceptive man with considerable depth and an introspective streak. The broken heart on his lapel is a reference to the multiple times he mentioned this metaphor. He proclaimed an intense desire to live, even with a broken heart. The green carnation motif was a symbol of gay identity before the rainbow flag and pink triangle. Wilde once asked the cast of his play to all show up wearing a green carnation. His intent has been a much discussed mystery to this day, and using it a gay pride emblem was one conclusion. A book was written called The Green Carnation on the secret symbol for gay love. It is more likely Wilde was plucking a random symbol with which to amuse himself, throwing a surrealism into the day, as he liked to do. The bookshelf shown are some of the books Oscar Wilde had in prison, where he did time near the end of life for "gross indecency." He was given special privileges because of his intellect and charm and was allowed a library in his cell. Many would be surprised by the variety and seriousness of the titles, including works on the history of Jews, poetry by Hafiz, and collections by Dante, Pascal, Wordsworth, Dryden, Goethe, and Keats. The sheep are mentioned "bleating in their fold" in his poem on the mythic figure Endymion. Finally, the cross indicates a lifelong spiritual struggle for Wilde. In prison, he spent time reflecting in personal torment on what he called his own "decadent" behaviour. He was happily married for some time, but later began using his celebrity to attract and groom young boys as lovers. Wilde lambasted hypocritical society for its uptight pretexts surrounding sexuality and other affairs, but he recognized that the relationships he had with teenage admirers and young prostitutes were based on exploitation and vanity, not on mutual adult attraction. While the deathbed conversion to Catholicism story was more than likely exaggerated for its own agenda, a friend of the playwright and poet did say that Wilde finding "refuge in the church was not the sudden clutch of the drowning man at the plank in the shipwreck, but a return to a first love." Finally, the miscellaneous symbols in this image illustrate what Wilde once said, how all he needed for happiness was freedom, books, the moon, and flowers.