Quiz on Oscar Wilde

In which country was Oscar Wilde born?

• Ireland ✓ (Correct answer)
• England
• Scotland
• France

Source: Though he became the toast of London, Wilde was a Dubliner through and through, born in Ireland in 1854.

Which famous novel did Oscar Wilde write?

• The Picture of Dorian Gray ✓ (Correct answer)
• Dracula
• Frankenstein
• Wuthering Heights

Source: His only novel, it scandalised Victorian readers so much that critics called it poisonous.

Wilde was best known for writing in which form?

• Comic plays ✓ (Correct answer)
• Epic poems
• Detective fiction
• Travel guides

Source: His witty society comedies packed London theatres and still get staged worldwide today.

Wilde spent his final years living mostly in which city?

• Paris ✓ (Correct answer)
• Dublin
• New York
• Rome

Source: Broke and disgraced, he died in a shabby Paris hotel, reportedly quarrelling with its wallpaper.

Which famous quip is attributed to Oscar Wilde?

• I can resist everything except temptation ✓ (Correct answer)
• I think, therefore I am
• All the world's a stage
• Knowledge is power

Source: Wilde's epigrams turned vice into a punchline, and this one captured his playful self-mockery.

Which witty comedy is among Wilde's most famous plays?

• The Importance of Being Earnest ✓ (Correct answer)
• Pygmalion
• The Cherry Orchard
• Hedda Gabler

Source: Wilde called it a trivial comedy for serious people, and it remains his most performed work.

Wilde was a leading figure of which artistic movement?

• Aestheticism ✓ (Correct answer)
• Romanticism
• Surrealism
• Futurism

Source: He championed art for art's sake, dressing flamboyantly to embody beauty above all else.

Which children's story did Oscar Wilde write?

• The Happy Prince ✓ (Correct answer)
• The Ugly Duckling
• The Little Match Girl
• Peter Pan

Source: Wilde wrote tender fairy tales for his own sons, this one about a gilded statue who gives everything away.

What did Wilde famously serve a prison sentence for?

• Gross indecency ✓ (Correct answer)
• Fraud
• Debt
• Libel

Source: Convicted under Victorian anti-homosexuality laws, he was sentenced to two years of hard labour.

At university, Wilde was celebrated chiefly for his brilliance in what?

• Classics ✓ (Correct answer)
• Mathematics
• Painting
• Music composition

Source: He won top prizes in Greek and Latin at Oxford, masking his wit behind genuine scholarly talent.

Which lord's father triggered the libel case that ruined Wilde?

• Marquess of Queensberry ✓ (Correct answer)
• Earl of Sandwich
• Duke of Wellington
• Baron Rothschild

Source: The same Queensberry who lent his name to boxing rules left a card insulting Wilde, sparking the fatal trial.

Wilde undertook a famous lecture tour of which country in 1882?

• United States ✓ (Correct answer)
• Australia
• India
• Japan

Source: Arriving in America, he reportedly told customs he had nothing to declare but his genius.

What was the name of Wilde's lover, son of that lord?

• Lord Alfred Douglas ✓ (Correct answer)
• Lord Henry Wotton
• Lord Goring
• Lord Byron

Source: Nicknamed Bosie, his volatile relationship with Wilde drove the writer toward the courtroom and catastrophe.

Wilde published a famous long poem about his time in which place?

• Reading Gaol ✓ (Correct answer)
• Newgate Prison
• The Tower of London
• Bedlam

Source: Written after his release, the ballad's haunting refrain insists each man kills the thing he loves.

Which long confessional letter did Wilde write to Bosie from prison?

• De Profundis ✓ (Correct answer)
• Mea Culpa
• Apologia
• Confiteor

Source: Its Latin title means from the depths, and it mixes bitter reproach with strange spiritual calm.

Wilde's mother was known in Dublin as a poet and activist under what name?

• Speranza ✓ (Correct answer)
• Sappho
• Corinna
• Aurora

Source: Lady Jane Wilde wrote fiery Irish nationalist verse, and young Oscar grew up amid her famous salons.

What pen name did Wilde adopt while living in France after prison?

• Sebastian Melmoth ✓ (Correct answer)
• Currer Bell
• Boz
• Saki

Source: He borrowed the name from a gothic novel by his own great-uncle, Charles Maturin.

Which short story features a ghost tormented by a modern American family?

• The Canterville Ghost ✓ (Correct answer)
• The Sphinx
• Lord Arthur's Crime
• The Devoted Friend

Source: Wilde flipped the haunted-house tale, making the cheerful Americans terrify the poor old British ghost.

Which painter designed the original cover for Wilde's play Salomé?

• Aubrey Beardsley ✓ (Correct answer)
• James Whistler
• Dante Rossetti
• Walter Sickert

Source: Beardsley's daring black-and-white illustrations so overshadowed the text that Wilde grumbled they were too clever.

Wilde co-edited which periodical aimed at fashionable female readers?

• The Woman's World ✓ (Correct answer)
• The Yellow Book
• The Strand
• Blackwood's Magazine

Source: Before fame, Wilde ran this magazine for two years, sneaking in serious essays on art and politics.