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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Oscar Wilde's father's profession?

2. Which intellectual does Oscar Wilde work with on road-building and beautification projects?

3. How did Oscar Wilde feel about how the French interpreted aestheticism?

4. What does Robert Harborough Sherard do for Oscar Wilde?

5. Oscar Wilde's debates with James McNeill Whistler are included in which of Wilde's works?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Oscar Wilde's marriage to Constance Lloyd.

2. How was Oscar Wilde exposed to homosexuality?

3. What did Oscar Wilde regret when his father died?

4. Where does Oscar Wilde live after returning to Europe from America?

5. How are Oscar Wilde's lectures received in America?

6. Describe Oscar Wilde's meeting with Walt Whitman.

7. What was Oscar Wilde like as a young boy?

8. Describe the history and premier of Oscar Wilde's play "Vera."

9. What is memorable about Oscar Wilde's stop in Leadville, Colorado?

10. Which intellectuals became important to Oscar Wilde while he was at Oxford? What were their ideas?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What were the social conditions surrounding homosexuality in Oscar Wilde's times? What did his fellow students feel about homosexuality? What did the school authorities feel? What did society feel? Were there different groups among whom homosexuality was more acceptable?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Oscar Wilde's relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas with Wilde's marriage to Constance Lloyd. Does Wilde conduct both relationships according to the same rules? What were the rules that governed each relationship? In what ways was he true to either partner? In what ways was he honest or dishonest? In what ways did he show love for Constance and Douglas? Were they similar kinds of love? How are they different? Why are they different?

Essay Topic 3

Oscar Wilde wrote only one novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray." How is this novel different from his plays and poems? What part of his personality does he express that is not expressed elsewhere? How does his novel resemble his plays and poems? How is it different?

(see the answer keys)

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