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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 does Ellman give as a possible reason for Wilde's dislike for sports?

2. What profession does Oscar Wilde take up in order to supplement his wife's income?

3. What is the name of the journal in which Oscar Wilde published a poem about a boy?

4. When did Oscar Wilde matriculate at Oxford?

5. What defines Oscar Wilde's style?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Oscar Wilde's relationship with Oxford University.

2. What does Oscar Wilde do for work after he gives up lecturing?

3. What was Oscar Wilde's primary challenge in his fourth year at Oxford, and how did he meet it?

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

5. How did Oscar Wilde feel about his studies at Oxford?

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

7. What did Oscar Wilde do when he lost his University Demyship?

8. What was Oscar Wilde's relationship with Robert Harborough Sherard?

9. What is Oscar Wilde's father's profession, and what are his political views?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oscar Wilde spent a considerable amount of time in Paris. Describe how he was treated differently in Paris than in England. Where was he most at home? Where were his ideas most accepted? How were England and France different for Wilde? What could he do in France that he could not do in England?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

At Oxford, Oscar Wilde encountered two philosophers, Ruskin and Pater. How did Ruskin's ideas influence Wilde? How did Pater's? How did Wilde reconcile the tension between the two men's philosophies with his career?

(see the answer keys)

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