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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. Who brings Oscar Wilde out of his artistic doldrums after he is released from Reading jail?

2. Why was Oscar Wilde arrested?

3. How was Oscar Wilde released from prison for the first time?

4. What did Oscar Wilde write about his personal experience in prison?

5. What is Oscar Wilde's relationship with Major Nelson?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Lord Alfred Douglas try to help Oscar Wilde while Wilde is in prison?

2. How did Lord Alfred Douglas' father feel about his son's relationship with Oscar Wilde?

3. How do Oscar Wilde's aesthetics develop during his time in Paris in 1891?

4. How is "Lady Windermere's Fan" received when it premieres in London?

5. What is the plot of Oscar Wilde's novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray"?

6. How did the English see the crime of sodomy?

7. What happens to Oscar Wilde when he goes to prison?

8. What was the outcome of Oscar Wilde's lawsuit against his lover's father, Lord Queensberry?

9. What happens to Oscar Wilde's allowance from his mother after he leaves prison?

10. Why was Oscar Wilde's play "Salome" censored?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

After Oscar Wilde was convicted of homosexuality, his friends urged him to flee to Paris. Why did he not flee? What did he gain by remaining in England and being imprisoned? What did he lose?

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

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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