by Oscar Wilde
November 26 Becomes engaged to Constance Lloyd while lecturing in Dublin
1884 May 29 Married to Constance Lloyd in London
May /June On honeymoon in Paris and Dieppe
1885 January Moves into 16 Tite Street
May The Truth of Masks published in The Nineteenth Century as ‘Shakespeare and Stage Costume’
1885 June 5 Cyril Wilde born
1886 Meets Robert Ross who remains life-long friend and after his death becomes his literary executor
November 3 Vyvyan Wilde born
1887 Feb/March Canterville Ghost published in The Court & Society Review
May The Sphinx without a Secret published in The World. Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime published in The Court & Society Review
June The Model Millionaire published in The World
November Becomes editor of The Woman’s World
1888 May The Happy Prince and Other Tales published
December The Young King published in The Lady’s Pictorial
1889 January The Decay of Lying published in The Nineteenth Century. Pen, Pencil and Poison published in The Fortnightly Review
March The Birthday of the Infanta published in Paris Illustré
July Gives up editorship of Woman’s World. The Portrait of Mr W.H. appears in Blackwood’s Magazine
1890 June 20 The Picture of Dorian Gray appears in Lippincott’s Magazine
July/Sept Both parts of The Critic as Artist published these months in The Nineteenth Century as ‘The True Function and Value of Criticism’
1891 ? January Meets Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie)
January 26 First production of The Duchess of Padua under the title Guido Ferranti. It opens anonymously in New York and runs only for three weeks
February The Soul of Man under Socialism published in The Fortnightly Review
April The Picture of Dorian Gray published in book form with additional chapters and a preface
May 2 Intentions published (comprising The Truth of Masks, The Critic as Artist, Pen, Pencil & Poison, and The Decay of Lying) in book form
July Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories (the other stories being The Sphinx without a Secret, The Canterville Ghost, and The Model Millionaire) published in book form
November A House of Pomegranates published. It included The Young King, The Birthday of the Infanta, The Fisherman and His Soul and The Star Child, the last two of which had not been published before
Nov/Dec Writes Salomé in Paris
1892 February 20 Lady Windermere’s Fan produced at St James’s Theatre
1892 June A production of Salomé with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role is banned by the Lord Chamberlain
July Takes cure at Homburg
Aug/Sept Writes A Woman of No Importance in Norfolk
1893 February The House of Judgement published in The Spirit Lamp February 22 Salomé published in French
April 19 A Woman of No Importance produced at Haymarket Theatre
June The Disciple published in The Spirit Lamp
October Writes An Ideal Husband
November Lady Windermere’s Fan published
1894 February 9 Salomé published in English with Aubrey Beardsley’s illustrations
May In Florence with Douglas
June 11 The Sphinx published
July Poems in Prose published in The Fortnightly Review. The Artist, The Doer of Good and The Master are published for the first time
Aug/Sept Writes The Importance of Being Earnest at Worthing
October 9 A Woman of No Importance published
October At Brighton with Douglas
November A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated published in The Saturday Review
December Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young published in The Chameleon
1895 January 3 An Ideal Husband produced at Haymarket Theatre Jan/Feb Visits Algiers with Douglas
February 14 The Importance of Being Earnest produced at St James’s Theatre
February 28 Finds Queensberry’s card at Albemarle Club
March 1 Obtains warrant for Queensberry’s arrest
March 9 Queensberry remanded at Bow Street for trial at Old Bailey
March Visits Monte Carlo with Douglas
April 3 Queensberry trial opens
April 5 Queensberry acquitted. Wilde arrested at Cadogan Hotel and charged at Bow Street, Bail refused. Imprisoned at Holloway until first trial
April 24 Sheriff’s sale of all Wilde’s possessions at 16 Tite Street
April 26 First trial opens
May 1 Jury disagree
May 7 Released on bail
May 20 Second trial opens
May 25 Convicted and sentenced to two years’ hard labour. Imprisoned at Pentonville
1895 May 30 The Soul of Man under Socialism published in book form
July 4 Transferred to Wandsworth
November 12 Declared bankrupt
November 21 Transferred to Reading
1896 February 3 Death of his mother, Lady Wilde
February 11 Salomé produced in Paris at the Théâtre de l’Oeuvre
1897 Jan-March Writes De Profundis
May 19 Released. Crosses to Dieppe
May 26 Moves from Dieppe to Berneval-sur-Mer
July-Oct Writes and revises The Ballad of Reading Gaol
August ?28 Meets Douglas in Rouen
September 15 Leaves Dieppe for Paris
September 20 Arrives at Naples with Douglas
1898 February Returns to Paris
February 13 The Ballad of Reading Gaol published
end March Moves to Hôtel d’Alsace, rue des Beaux Arts, Paris
April 7 Death of Constance Wilde in Genoa after spinal operation
June/July At Nogent-sur-Marne
August At Chevennières-sur-Marne
December Invited by Frank Harris to spend three months on French Riviera at Napoule near Cannes
1899 February The Importance of Being Earnest published. Leaves Napoule for Nice
February 25 Leaves Nice to stay as Harold Mellor’s guest at Gland, Switzerland
April 1 Leaves Gland for Santa Margherita on Italian Riviera
May Returns to Paris. Stays at Hôtel de la Neva, then at Hôtel Marsollier
July An Ideal Husband published
August Moves back to the Hôtel d’Alsace
1900 April/May Spends two weeks as Mellor’s guest travelling in Italy and Sicily. After Mellor’s departure Wilde stays on in Rome and visits Naples. He then passes ten days with Mellor at Gland before returning to Paris
May Returns to the Hôtel d’Alsace
October 10 Undergoes ear operation in hotel room
November 30 Dies in Hôtel d’Alsace of cerebral meningitis
1905 February De Profundis first published in heavily expurgated form by Robert Ross
1906 July Wilde’s estate discharged from bankruptcy. Creditors paid 20/- in the £ and 4% from sales of books.and licensing of plays
1908 First collected edition of Wilde’s works published by Methuen, in which A Florentine Tragedy, La Sainte
1908 Courtisane, the complete Rise of Historical Criticism and the poem To L.L. were published for the first time as well as a few additional parts of De Profundis
1909 Wilde’s remains are moved from the cemetery at Bagneux to Père Lachaise and reinterred under Epstein’s monument. The manuscript of De Profundis is presented by Ross to the British Museum on the condition that it remains closed for 50 years
1945 March 20 Death of Lord Alfred Douglas
1949 Suppressed part of De Profundis published by Wilde’s son, Vyvyan Holland, from Ross’s typescript
1956 First publication of the original four-act version of The Importance of Being Earnest
1962 Publication of Wilde’s Collected Letters including first fully correct version of De Profundis
APPENDIX B:
ORDER OF POEMS (1882)
ELEUTHER
IA:
Sonnet to Liberty
Ave Imperatrix
To Milton
Louis Napoleon
Sonnet on the Massacre of the Christians in Bulgaria
Quantum Mutata
Libertatis Sacra Fames
Theoretikos
THE GARDEN OF EROS
ROSA MYSTICA:
Requiescat
Sonnet on approaching Italy
San Miniato
Ave Maria Gratia Plena
Italia
Sonnet written in Holy Week at Genoa
Rome Unvisited
Urbs Sacra Æterna
Sonnet on hearing the Dies Iræ sung in the Sistine Chapel
Easter Day
E Tenebris
Vita Nuova
Madonna Mia
The New Helen
THE BURDEN OF ITYS
WIND FLOWERS:
Impression du Matin
Magdalen Walks
Athanasia
Serenade
Endymion
La Bella Donna della mia Mente
Chanson
CHARMIDES
FLOWERS OF GOLD:
Impressions: I. Les Silhouettes
II. La Fuite de la Lune
The Grave of Keats
Theocritus: A Villanelle
In the Gold Room: A Harmony
Ballade de Marguerite
The Dole of the King’s Daughter
Amor Intellectualis
Santa Decca
A Vision
Impression de Voyage
The Grave of Shelley
By the Arno
IMPRESSIONS DE THÉTRE:
Fabien dei Franchi
Phèdre
Sonnets written at the Lyceum Theatre:.
I. Portia
II. Queen Henrietta Maria
Camma
PANTHEA
THE FOURTH MOVEMENT:
Impression: Le Réveillon
At Verona
Apologia
Quia Multum Amavi
Silentium Amoris
Her Voice
My Voice
Tædium Vitæ
HUMANITAD
FLOWER OF LOVE:
APPENDIX C:
LIST OF ORIGINAL DEDICATIONS IN WILDE’S PUBLISHED WORKS
Ravenna (1878)
To my friend George Fleming [Julia Constance Fletcher], author of ‘The Nile Novel’ and ‘Mirage’
The Happy Prince & Other Tales (1888)
To Carlos Blacker
The House of Pomegranates (1891)
To Constance Mary Wilde
Individual stories were dedicated to:
‘The Young King’: To Margaret, Lady Brooke [Ranee of Sarawak]
‘The Birthday of the Infanta’: Mrs William H. Grenfell of Taplow Court [Lady Desborough]
‘The Fisherman and His Soul’: H.S.H. Alice, Princess of Monaco
‘The Star-Child’: To Miss Margot Tennant [Mrs H. H. Asquith]
Salomé (1893) In French
A mon ami Pierre Louÿs (1893) in English
To my friend Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas, the translator of my play
Lady Windermere’s Fan (1893)
To the dear memory of Robert, Earl of Lytton in affection and admiration
The Sphinx (1894)
To Marcel Schwob in friendship and admiration
A Woman of No Importance (1894)
To Gladys, Countess de Grey
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)
In memoriam C.T.W. [Charles Thomas Wooldridge], sometime trooper of the Royal Horse Guards. Obiit H.M. Prison, Reading, Berkshire, July 7th 1896
The Importance of Being Earnest (1899)
To Robert Baldwin Ross in appreciation, in affection
An Ideal Husband (1899)
To Frank Harris, a slight tribute to his power and distinction as an artist, his chivalry and nobility as a friend
APPENDIX D:
INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF POEMS
((asterixes denote poems included for the first time)
A fair slim boy not made for this world’s pain 775
Against these turbid turquoise skies 869
*Ah! could I charm the silver-breasted moon 815
Albeit nurtured in democracy 858
A lily-girl, not made for this world’s pain 836
An omnibus across the bridge 872
A ring of gold and a milk-white dove 753
As often-times the too resplendent sun 841
As one who poring on a Grecian urn 861
A white mist drifts across the shrouds 866
A year ago I breathed the Italian air 778
* Before the dividing of days 745
Christ, dost thou live indeed? or are thy bones 771
Cloud maidens that float on for ever 747
Come down, O Christ, and help me! reach thy hand 773
Could we dig up this long-buried treasure 837
Dear Heart, I think the young impassioned priest 840
Eagle of Austerlitz! where were thy wings 836
Go, little book 872
*Green are the summer meadows 865
*Have you forgotten the ship love 759
He did not wear his scarlet coat 883
He was a Grecian lad, who coming home 797
Her ivory hands on the ivory keys 862
How steep the stairs within King’s houses are 777
How vain and dull this common world must seem 835
I am weary of lying within the chase 814
I can write no stately poem 870
I have no store 871
*I love your topaz-coloured eyes 873
I marvel not Bassanio was so bold 839
In a dim corner of my room for longer than my fancy thinks 874
In the glad springtime when leaves were green 748
In the lone tent, waiting for victory 835
I reached the Alps; the soul within me burned 768
Is it thy will that I should wax and wane 839
I stood by the unvintageable sea 773
Italia! thou art fallen, though with sheen 772
It is full summer now, the heart of June 844
It is full winter now: the trees are bare 816
I too have had my dreams: ay, known indeed 856
I wandered in Scoglietto’s green retreat 769
Like burnt-out torches by a sick man’s bed 775
Milton! I think thy spirit hath passed away 774
My limbs are wasted with a flame 752
Nay, let us walk from fire unto fire 830
Nay, Lord, not thus! white lilies in the spring 772
* Nettles and poppy mar each rock-hewn seat 769
Not that I love thy children, whose dull eyes 859
O beautiful star with the crimson mouth 869
O fair wind blowing from the sea 760
Oft have we trod the vales of Castaly 777
O goat-foot God of Arcady 854
*O Loved one lying far away 765
O singer of Persephone 795
Out of the mid-wood’s twilight 874
O well for him who lives at ease 757
Rid of the world’s injustice, and his pain 770
Rome! what a scroll of History thine has been 770
See, I have climbed the mountain side 749
*See! the gold sun has risen 753
Set in this stormy Northern sea 851
Seven stars in the still water 755
* She stole behind him where he lay 754
* She took the curious amber charms 873
* Surely to me the world is all too drear 758
Sweet, I blame you not for mine the fault was, had 843
The apple trees are hung with gold 796
The corn has turned from grey to red 750
The Gods are dead: no longer do we bring 776
The lily’s withered chalice falls 805
The little white clouds are racing over the sky 786
* The moon hath spread a pavillion 796
The oleander on the wall 749
There is no peace beneath the noon 763
There was a time in Europe long ago 773
The sea is flecked with bars of grey 863
These are the letters which Endymion wrote 870
The seasons send their ruin as they go 763
The sea was sapphire coloured, and the sky 769
The silent room, the heavy creeping shade 860
The silver trumpets rang across the Dome 771
The sin was mine: I did not understand 871
The sky is laced with fitful red 864
* The sultry noon is amorous for rain 762
The Thames nocturne of blue and gold 862
The western wind is blowing fair 860
The wild bee reels from bough to bough 841
This English Thames is holier far than Rome 786
This mighty empire hath but feet of clay 776
This winter air is keen and cold 866
* Though the wind shakes lintel and rafter 756
Thou knowest all; I seek in vain 758
* Through many loveless songless days 864
Thy prophecies are but a lying tale 766
To drift with every passion till my soul 864
To outer senses there is peace 863
To stab my youth with desperate knives, to wear 859
To that gaunt House of Art which lacks for naught 826
Tread lightly, she is near 748
Two crownèd kings, and One that stood alone 768
Under the rose-tree’s dancing shade 868
Was this his coming! I had hoped to see 774
We caught the tread of dancing feet 867
Where hast thou been since round the walls of Troy 828
Within this restless, hurried, modern world 842
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Works
The following is a bibliography of the works of Oscar Wilde as first published in book form. It includes privately printed first editions but not pirated editions if they predated the former. Piracy of Wilde’s works between his death in 1900 and the discharge of his estate from bankruptcy in 1906 was rife and only halted by the efforts of Robbie Ross, his literary executor, once he had full control of the publishing rights.
