Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet, playwright, and essayist. Educated at Trinity College Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford, he became a leading figure in the Aestheticism movement and a celebrated wit of late-Victorian London. His works include the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the comedies Lady Windermere's Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest, and the essay collection Intentions. In 1895 he was tried and convicted of "gross indecency" and imprisoned for two years, an experience reflected in The Ballad of Reading Gaol and De Profundis. He spent his final years in exile in France and died in Paris in 1900.