Early Years
I ain't saying she's a gold-digger, but she ain't messing with no broke bloke.~Oscar Wilde
Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854, the son of wealthy surgeon, Sir William Wilde, and his wife, Jane Elgee, a writer. The Official Website of Oscar Wilde contains many such facts about Wilde.
Oscar was home-schooled until the age of 9, when he began attending the Portora Royal School. Portora has a detailed and varied history on its website, including a mention of Wilde.
Wilde was thought a girl for his painful first 7 years.
At Portora Wilde excelled, recieving first-class grades in pottery and earning accolades for beaver-hide tophats he manufactured for two pence per term. Wilde also began to embrace his innate writing ability, although his illiteracy, a sympom of his home-schooling by his illiterate parent, proved a substantial handicap. Nevertheless, within two years at Portora Wilde had learned to read, and also to write in non-cursive printing.
However, Wilde's thirst for literacy did not stop at English. By 14, Wilde wrote and spoke fluent Latin. The following is an excerpt from his first Latin work, an account of his traumatic first year at Portora entitled Suspendisse viverra, written by Wilde at 16:
Donec commodo justo a tellus. Nam elementum purus. Nunc dui dui, sagittis a, congue a, mattis a, mauris. Sed venenatis. Nullam condimentum ante eget urna. orbi gravida pharetra erat. In posuere laoreet libero.
Quisque nulla. Suspendisse viverra, leo non posuere auctor, nibh pede tincidunt tellus, eget commodo mauris est in urna. In blandit viverra odio. Nunc sed nunc vitae nibh lacinia condimentum. orbi dui eros, tempor mollis, rhoncus sed, luctus posuere, tellus. Fusce porta ipsum vel pede. Quisque dapibus pellentesque risus. Praesent id quam in arcu congue mollis. Vestibulum sed nunc nec diam consequat rhoncus. Cras eleifend volutpat massa. Aenean libero eros, consectetuer eget, iaculis porta, volutpat ut, purus.
Nulla sapien. Mauris diam metus, tempus et, adipiscing a, dignissim a, eros. In pellentesque elit sed purus. Praesent est massa, viverra a, gravida eu, bibendum ut, nibh. Etiam velit. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Ut hendrerit, sapien non molestie commodo, enim mi placerat ante, in luctus arcu diam dictum dolor. Etiam ac justo vitae leo tempus scelerisque. Integer rutrum euismod tellus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Nam id neque. Nulla fringilla. Phasellus a metus. Pellentesque sagittis justo. Quisque vitae velit ut nunc adipiscing viverra. Morbi ante. Donec purus velit, imperdiet sit amet, dictum sed, sagittis nec, leo. Fusce lectus. Donec venenatis, leo a scelerisque feugiat, ipsum neque viverra arcu, sed suscipit metus mauris ac justo.
Doler ut faucibus vulputate pede. Etiam dictum tortor vel tortor. Phasellus ac justo. Maecenas id leo. Fusce ligula purus, vulputate non, pellentesque vitae, suscipit a, odio. Sed tincidunt ullamcorper nisi. Maecenas dolor. Donec bibendum, elit nec imperdiet viverra, est orci bibendum dolor, varius ultrices nulla sem ut augue. Sed sollicitudin. Mauris at dui nec elit consequat vehicula. Etiam vitae massa. Phasellus scelerisque blandit ipsum. Nulla pellentesque nibh non turpis. Nunc ipsum. Nulla fringilla, sem non fringilla eleifend, leo nulla molestie neque, non ultrices magna ipsum ultricies massa. Ut et tellus eget odio egestas sagittis. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Suspendisse mattis quam sed nisi.
fusce dictum velit vitae lacus. Etiam accumsan nisl nec lacus. Nulla a dui. Phasellus condimentum. Mauris hendrerit, nisi in congue dictum, enim felis venenatis neque, commodo porttitor urna quam eu tellus. Integer accumsan, nibh et vulputate tristique, lectus dolor ullamcorper odio, dignissim consequat urna massa in erat. Fusce vulputate, odio sit amet convallis tempor, ipsum lacus vulputate felis, et dictum eros nisi eu leo. Sed ac neque id dolor imperdiet ullamcorper. Aliquam tempor nulla a erat. Cras ullamcorper felis in velit.
Proin sagittis euismod dui. Pellentesque nisl turpis, ultrices eu, tempor ut, fermentum eget, eros. Curabitur massa. Integer ornare pede at augue. Proin sed turpis. Praesent quis orci sit amet neque pharetra dapibus. Nam lobortis massa ut lectus. Nam quis velit non neque interdum volutpat. Sed lobortis aliquet tortor. Aliquam consequat sem.
At the age of 16, Wilde graduated from Portora, and travelled to Dublin to begin his college education.
A. Bard | Legal | Last Updated: February 14, 2008