Oscar Wilde is a well-known writer from Dublin, Ireland. He was born in 1854 and died in 1900, which essentially sets him in the era of Victorian poetry. Because of his extramarital affairs with other men, and his “gross indecency” trial, I wouldn’t say he was necessarily accepted, as he was even sentenced to prison for 2 years for his homosexual acts. Homosexuality was not very common back then, as it was even outlawed in most countries, as shown through his imprisonment. Although, nowadays it is socially acceptable to be openly homosexual. It is even thought of as brave to some, so I think Wilde would be accepted and probably even praised in a society nowadays.
I do believe Oscar Wilde is a “wild” writer because in all of the poems I have read by him, he speaks of wild stories that even have the term wild in them. He speaks of a lot of wild metaphors of wild animals. One wild poem by him is Her Voice. The literal second word in the poem is wild, as shown by the first two lines: “THE wild bee reels from bough to bough with his furry coat and his gauzy wing.” The story talks about this woman who has to accept the fact that her and her husband are breaking up even though they vowed that they would stay together forever, through sickness and in health. The thought of divorce seems wild because love is supposed to glue a couple together, but we are only human and sometimes divorce is the only and best option for both sides to be happy moving forward. Wilde moves into the end of the relationship with the wild and intricate lines:
“Swore that two lives should be like one
As long as the sea-gull loved the sea,
As long as the sunflower sought the sun,–
It shall be, I said, for eternity
‘Twixt you and me!
-Major Wheless
I love the poem you choose to write about from Oscar Wilde. I wouldn’t consider the poem to be “wild” because divorce is normal in our society. However, during this time, marriage was considered to be concrete and everlasting. Great Blog!
I also thought he was quite a wild author, and very daring especially for his time. I thought the poem you chose and your analysis was perfect for justifying why his writing is wild. Great job!
I also saw him as such a wild figure just because of what he did, and what he talked about in the era that he was a part of. To add on to what you wrote about divorce at the time was so unheard of which is just one of the many things that made wilde such a unique writer at the time.
I thought he was not “wild” for expressing himself but society made him feel “wild” and different back in the day. But when looking at only his work, that shows us that Wilde is indeed wild. I also really liked how you quoted some of his work to help solidify your analysis!