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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. Where does Oscar Wilde first publish?

2. What magazine does Oscar Wilde publish in from 1887 to 1888?

3. Whose house does Oscar Wilde move out of while his first play is being prepared?

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

5. Who does Oscar Wilde live with immediately after he graduates from Oxford?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. What does Oscar Wilde's mother change her name to when she marries Oscar Wilde's father?

6. Did Oscar Wilde's feelings about outdoor sports change any when he went to Oxford?

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

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

9. With whom does Oscar Wilde visit Rome in 1875?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oscar Wilde was baptized both as a Protestant and as a Catholic. What do these religions represent to him? Why does he consider converting to Catholicism? What does he hope to gain? What does he expect to free himself from in his Protestant faith? What would conversion have meant to him and to the people around him?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

From 1887 to 1889, Oscar Wilde edited magazines. How did his editorial work change his literary style? Did it affect his plays? His poems? His aesthetic theories? His public personality? Did his work as a magazine editor help or hurt his development as a literary writer and critic?

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This section contains 630 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample