Wild Things Project

Oscar Wilde is a very popular and well-known literary figure from the Victoria era whose writing and reputation still stand until this day. He was a poet, author, and playwright and graduated from Oxford University. His writing belongs to the late Victorian era of England. Some of his notable works were The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Sphinx, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde was often characterized as a dramatist with satire in his plays. He was also a huge proponent of the aestheticism movement which was met by a lot of criticism in terms of his works. 

In terms of reception, Oscar Wilde had some very popular works but they were considered controversial at the time because of their lack of morality and focus on aestheticism. Today, Wilde’s work is deeply appreciated by literary fans and he is also known for his wild personal life where he engaged in extramarital affairs with other men and went to jail due to his homosexuality. 

Oscar’s Wilde’s personality and life were most definitely a little wild and I do think that this is reflected in his work as an author as well! Though not everyone would describe his work as “wild”, I think there are many themes of “wildness” throughout his works. Wilde uses a lot of ideas of emotional turbulence and turmoil in his work. These are especially seen in one of his most famous poems, The Ballad of Reading Gaol. This opening was written after Wilde was released from jail and is a poem of his experiences with themes of betrayal, emotional despair, and emotional turbulence. In this poem, Wilde also talks about the death of love. He says “Each man kills the thing he loves…..the brave man with a sword”. I think Wilde’s work would be considered wild because it reflects on the emotions and thoughts behind a wild and non-conventional life for his time period. 

Irish writer and poet Oscar Wilde was born in 1854. He was notable for his ornate lifestyle and writings and was labeled as a dandy-writer during the Decadent movement in literature. His pieces of work often contained parallels to his “wild” lifestyle. Criticized for the “wild” lifestyle he lived, he was known for being contrary to the ideals of Victorian-era England. Undoubtedly, these criticisms were present during his public trials for “gross indecency.” Wilde was accused of practicing homosexuality, which was a criminal act in late 19th century England. Subsequently, Wilde was found guilty, and some of his writings were used as evidence against him.

A piece of evidence used against Wilde during his trial was his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. This novel exemplifies Wilde’s dandy style because the main character, Dorian Gray, was exuberant and was devoted to maintaining a polished appearance. While the novel exemplifies Wilde’s style, it also parallels his queerness. This queerness is portrayed in some of the characters. For example, Wilde queer-codes the character Basil Howard. In the novel, Dorian Gray was Howard’s muse and the subject of the portrait that plagued Dorian throughout the story. Howard’s obsession with Dorian was heavily queer coded by Wilde, which was apparent in their interactions. An example of queer coding is present in this interaction, “I worshipped you. I grew jealous of every one to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you” (Wilde). In this quote, Howard essentially professes his love to Dorian, which was unconventional during the Victorian era. With these interactions between the two characters, Wilde challenged the societal norms concerning male relationships. Because homosexuality was prohibited, the relationship between Basil and Dorian was a source of controversy for this novel. Ultimately, Wilde demonstrates “wildness” by provoking societal standards centered on homosexuality.

Ironically, I think Wilde’s surname suits his character well. In all senses of the word, Wilde is “wild.” In the literary sense, his writings challenged societal norms in Victorian-era England. In his personal life, Wilde challenged those norms as well. Ultimately, I think that Wilde is “wild because he broke societal ideals of the Victorian era by including queerness in his work.

-Anna Allen

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was a popular Irish author, playwright, and poet of the late Victorian era. He was a vocal promoter of the Aesthetic Movement which preached that art should focus on depicting appealing and beautiful imagery instead of telling a message to escape the reality of the Industrial Age. His only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, received harsh criticism, being called out for embracing sin and lacking morality. The book was also negatively received due to the homoerotic subtext, which likely were from reflections of his own life. Wilde would later go and revise the book to both follow and argue against these criticisms. Nowadays the book, along with his other works, are recognized as classics. Wilde had been in a marriage with two children, but would later begin an affair with another man and end his marriage nine years later. This affair would lead to his lover’s father calling Wilde a “posing somdomite” which prompted Wilde to sue in response. In an unlikely turn of events, the court noted his history of homoeroticism and arrested him on charges of sodomy and gross indecency.

From both his history and his works, I would call Wilde a “wild” writer. Getting jailed after losing a court case from suing someone who insulted you is a far from normal experience. In addition, committing adultery was and still is immoral, especially with another man due to public standards of the time. His poetry also embodies these aspects of wildness. The Ballad of Reading Gaol was written by Wilde to describe his suffering in prison. Wilde shifts from times of no emotion where “what was dead was Hope.” and transitions into great bursts of emotion. Calling upon gruesome imagery, he repeats the phrase “and makes it bleed”, using pathos to represent his sickening fear in prison. He continues to create brutal and uncomfortable imagery, detailing his experiences watching his inmates get punished.

They stripped him of his canvas clothes,

And gave him to the flies;

They mocked the swollen purple throat

And the stark and staring eyes:

And with laughter loud they heaped the shroud

In which their convict lies.

Wilde creates a sense of empathy for both the punished prisoner and for himself as he is forced to watch what unfolds. Pathos is used once more to detail how emotionally devastating his time in jail was.

– Kenny Ly

Oscar Wilde was a famous, and somewhat controversial poet and writer from Dublin. He was born in 1854 and contributed to the Victorian era of poetry and the Aesthetic Movement. He lived a very traditional life, so it seemed. His parents were both scholarly, as his father was a surgeon who also published books and his mother was a poet. He went to college and worked for different publications as an editor and reviewer. He had gotten married and had kids. Throughout his life, beginning in college, he had published many different poems, plays, and literary pieces. He gained lots of traction and criticism, as many of his works touched on progessive and taboo topics at that time, for example, death and homosexuality. He was eventually even sent to prison for his acts of homosexuality and openness about it.

I believe he is definitely a “wild” writer because of his fearlessness in the subjects he writes about. He was very progressive and shocking for his time, and was brave enough to talk about homosexuality and reveal secrets about his personal life, regardless of what others thought. I admire how unconventional he is, and he is not afraid of speaking out about what he thinks is important. Of course, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a good example, and probably most well-known example of this. However, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, I found particularly interesting. It is his last published piece before he died, and it talks about the harsh conditions he endured when he was in jail.

I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky,
And at every drifting cloud that went With sails of silver by.
I walked, with other souls in pain,Within another ring,
And was wondering if the man had done A great or little thing,

Dear Christ! the very prison walls Suddenly seemed to reel,
And the sky above my head became Like a casque of scorching steel;
And, though I was a soul in pain,

My pain I could not feel.

It was a direct demand for prison reform, which was a very wild idea for his time as well. He used strong emotional appeals and metaphors to convey to his audience the need for change. He talks about how his tiny prison cell and awful living conditions were so demeaning that the crime he committed seemed insignificant in comparison.

elina chen

Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet/writer who grew up with both literary and professional parents and had a wife, Constance and two children. Although seemingly a typical childhood and marriage, Wilde’s fame included his criminalized homosexuality, which was seen as unacceptable at the time, which led him to live out his days imprisoned. Wilde belonged to and spoke for the aesthetic movement in Europe. While he is even more famous now for his works, his works were very popular towards the end of his life and career, more so in America than in England, although he did receive backlash for his personal life, which led to some controversies in his work. His greatest successes were his society comedies. 

While I do not find Oscar Wilde’s writing to be particularly “wild,” I do think that some may have believed he was a “wild” writer in his day due to how many of his poems discuss difficult topics, like death. This such topic is the topic of his poem “Requiescat,” in which he describes someone mourning the death of a woman they loved at the cemetery. The first stanza of the poem reads:

“Tread lightly, she is near

Under the snow,

Speak gently, she can hear

The daisies grow.”

I think this poem has some wild aspects because Wilde speaks about the dead as if “she can hear,” suggesting that perhaps she could be a ghost. Although it sounds to me that he is speaking of a ghost, this suggestion could also be referring to the afterlife of religion, which was very popular at the time. I personally think his writing itself is not often to be considered wild, but I do think that it is “wild” how often he writes about sad and controversial things in different lights.

Anna Ranslem

Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 till 1900, and was a Irish poet and playwright. He wrote many playwrights and dramatic pieces during the Victorian era. As a child, and during college, he was known for his intelligence and during the 1890s, his playwrights became popular. Some of his most famous works were, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). Although his work was gaining popularity, he became a controversial figure as a writer and a person. One of his writings that got a great deal of attention during the 1890s, was the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. The novel contained elements of homosexuality and was banned due to this. To add, this shed highlight into his personal life and his marriage. He was suspected on having an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas in 1891. This unsettled Douglas father, the Marquess of Queensberry, and blamed Wilde for his son’s acts. Queensberry accused Wilde of committing homosexual acts, and Wilde went onto trial and sent to prison. All these events affected Wilde’s reputation and status and was labeled as “wild.”  

One of his most controversial works was his novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, where one of the characters tell Dorian “It is quite true I have worshipped you with far more romance of feeling than a man should ever give to a friend. Somehow I have never loved a woman.” This sentence was one of the many parts that were censored and changed. It was viewed as “vulgar”, “poisonous”, and “discreditable.” To add, the novel was considered “dangerous” and “immoral” for young and older audiences. In this quote, Dorian’s companion confesses his love for him and reveals his homosexuality. This was considered “wild” because society only believed in a relationship between a man and a woman. Being in a same-sex relationship was considered taboo, and therefore Wilde was labeled as a “wild” writer. During this time, his writing and identity were not accepted by society, but I don’t consider him to be a “wild” writer. It was a different time and period, hence the “wild” label, but his work is now accepted in today’s society. He is known and respected for his work and considered to be a famous playwriter.

-Jaileen Gutierrez

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

The short story “The Good Lion” by Ernest Hemingway and the story “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak use the notion behind the word wild to convey images of uncivilized behavior, wilderness, and savagery. Comparing the two writings showcase the versatility of “wild” and “wilderness” but also the similarities behind the different definitions. 

Hemingway brings forth the idea of Western superiority in his characterization of the good lion and the “bad” lions. There are sinister motives behind these depictions as the bad lions from Africa are shown as uncivilized, ill-mannered, and unclean. One example of the distinction made between the good lion and the bad lions is in the way their languages are described and perceived. Hemingway writes, “‘Adios,’ he said, for he spoke beautiful Spanish, being a lion of culture. ‘Au revoir,’ he called to them in his exemplary French. They all roared and growled in African lion dialect.” By describing Spanish as beautiful and French as exemplary, there is already an elevated perspective on these European languages. However, the language of the bad lions is described as being roared and growled and referred to as an African lion dialect. There is a clear bias here to show which languages and backgrounds are seen as proper and more desired. This comparison showcases the belief of certain ethnicities being more superior than others and seeing certain cultures as lesser than. In the case of this story, African cultures are being described as savage and uncivilized whereas European and westernized culture is being conveyed as proper and civilized. This is a very harmful narrative and does not provide an accurate representation. Furthermore, it perpetuates ethnocentrism and stereotypical beliefs that are often wrong. 

In “Where the Wild Things Are,” Sendek uses wild to describe an unrestrained child with an active imagination who brings life to beings that are unworldly. The first instance of the word wild in the story is when the protagonist, Max, is referred to as a “wild child” by his mother. This introduces the idea of wild unrestrained by the bounds of certain expectations, in this case, discipline. As the story continues, wild is used to refer to the wild creatures in the story who are characterized as frightening as “they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.” The repetition of the word terrible reinforces this idea of wildness being synonymous with savagery and untamed.

The Good Lion by Ernest Hemingway and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak both present wildness in their stories but use it to send different messages. In Where the Wild Things Are, wildness is used to describe a world with beasts that have sharp teeth and claws that live in nature. The Good Lion uses wildness to present the contrast between the uncivilized and civilized. Though, both of the stories use wild to describe the behavior of a person or folk characters. 

In Where the Wild Things Are, wildness is used to describe the world that has creatures with claws and scary teeth. The world is away from any kind of civilization and the child protagonist is there living without any rules and can behave in any way he wants. He likes to make mischief and is called a wild thing by his mother. “And when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth…till Max said ‘Be Still’ and tamed them with the magic trick…and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all”. The child is considered the most wild among wild untamed creatures. The word “wild” and “terrible” are repeated throughout the story which show how untamed the beasts are and how despite that, the child is still the most wild. 

In The Good Lion, wildness describes how the African lions behave in comparison to the good lion. “But the good lion would sit and fold his wings back and ask politely if he might have a 

Negroni or an Americano and he always drank that instead of the blood of the Hindu traders”. In the story the good lion only eats refined and civilized food in comparison to blood and meat that the African Lions eat. The Good Lion compares how the good lion is much more civilized than the African lions but does so in a way that looks down upon the wildness of them. ““Yes, father,” said the good lion and he flew down lightly and walked to Harry’s Bar on 

his own four paws.” In Africa, the good lion flies above the African lions as though he were too good to walk among them, but when he is back home he walks to the bar and does not fly above everyone else. 

-Stephanie Wilhite

The “Good Lion” and “Where the Wild Things Are” are both stories which portray wildness in the context of animals that are not domesticated and portray traits of savageness. For example, in “Where the Wild Things Are,” the creatures “roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.” This shows the wildness of the creatures in the fact that they are portrayed as violent and undomesticated creatures. In “The Good Lion,” the bad lions are also portrayed as wild in the description that they had “blood caked on her whiskers and he smelled her breath which was very bad because she never brushed her teeth ever.” This quote depicts the fact that the bad lions not only are savage and eat animals and people, but they are also very dirty because they do not clean themselves. The wildness of the creatures and bad lions are both seen to be very savage, violent, and dirty. 

The two stories are different in the fact that the good lion and Max react to the wild animals in different ways. In Hemingway’s short story, the good lion travels to visit Africa to find that there are a lot of other lions living there as well. However, these “bad lions,” he learns are much more savage than he is because they would drink “the blood of the Hindu traders” and “eat eight Masai cattle.” The savageness of the bad lions really scares the good lion, causing the good lion to leave and go back home. On the other hand in “Where the Wild Things Are,” Max is not scared by the creatures, but instead stares at them without blinking. Because of Max’s unwavering boldness, the creatures crown him as king of the wild things. Furthermore, Max joins the creatures in their wildness and leads a “wild rumpus” with them.  These two stories highlight two different ways to respond to “wildness.” On one hand, the good lion was scared and rejected the bad lions’ wildness whereas Max embraced the creatures and was able to join them in their wildness. 

Kristine Chin