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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Oscar Wilde do for work immediately after he graduates from Oxford?
(a) He wrote art reviews.
(b) He taught at Oxford.
(c) He edited the Encyclopedia Britannica.
(d) He lectured on aesthetics.

2. Who is Archibald Forbes?
(a) An American art critic.
(b) A war journalist.
(c) One of Oscar Wilde's lovers.
(d) Oscar Wilde's agent.

3. Why does Oscar Wilde go to Paris?
(a) To lecture at the Sorbonne.
(b) To meet a lover.
(c) To work with Walter Pater.
(d) To finish his play, "The Duchess of Padua."

4. What was Oscar Wilde ill with late in his fourth year at Oxford?
(a) Syphilis.
(b) Flu.
(c) Tuberculosis.
(d) Gonorrhea.

5. Which American writer found Oscar Wilde to be contemptuous?
(a) William Dean Howells.
(b) Stephen Crane.
(c) Mark Twain.
(d) Henry James.

6. Oscar Wilde's mother was a strong supporter of which political cause?
(a) Abolition of slavery.
(b) Irish nationalism.
(c) Women's rights.
(d) Anti-colonialism.

7. In what year does Oscar Wilde publish his first piece?
(a) 1874.
(b) 1876.
(c) 1889.
(d) 1891.

8. Where is Oscar Wilde invited to lecture?
(a) In Paris.
(b) In Scotland.
(c) In America.
(d) In Berlin.

9. What career does Oscar Wilde explore while he is without his fellowship?
(a) Teacher.
(b) Politician.
(c) Art critic.
(d) Dancer.

10. What is the setting of Oscar Wilde's first play?
(a) Montparnasse, Paris.
(b) Berlin.
(c) Contemporary London.
(d) Czarist Russia.

11. What religion is Oscar Wilde first baptized into?
(a) Anglicanism.
(b) Protestantism.
(c) Calvinism.
(d) Catholicism.

12. What was Oscar Wilde's reaction to the attacks that were made on him?
(a) He sued his attackers for slander.
(b) He responded with vitriolic wit.
(c) He appealed to Bishop Manning for help.
(d) He skipped his Baltimore speaking engagement.

13. What is the name of Oscar Wilde's first play?
(a) "The Importance of Being Earnest."
(b) "Vera."
(c) "The Duchess of Padua."
(d) "The Ballad of Reading Gaol."

14. What profession does Oscar Wilde give up in order to supplement his wife's income?
(a) Playwriting.
(b) Journalism.
(c) Poetry.
(d) Lecturing.

15. How did Oscar Wilde feel about his dialogue with William Butler Yeats?
(a) Impressed with the nature of life and art.
(b) Satisfied with the decay of art and culture.
(c) Repulsed by the presence of myth in literature.
(d) Depressed about the prospect of getting old.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did Oscar Wilde lose his scholarship?

2. What is the name of Oscar Wilde's column in Women's World Magazine?

3. What was Oscar Wilde's greatest challenge when he matriculated at Oxford?

4. Why did Oscar Wilde need a special dispensation to join the group he joined in 1875?

5. What split does Oscar Wilde's poetry explore?

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