Is Oscar Wilde still a good inspiration….?
First of all, Oscar Wilde was not “openly” gay. No one was “openly” gay in Victorian Era London–no one, that is, who didn’t want to be incarcerated for “lewd and indecent” practices. He was only fully “outed” at his 1895 sodomy trial (his speech was beautiful as ever). And many of Wilde’s friends joined the Church before him. Robbie Ross, most notably (his first lover), became Catholic some time before Wilde, and Wilde always displayed an interest in the Church. Read his letters (and even Dorian Gray). Needless to say, Wilde’s experiences in prison profoundly changed him. The execution of a man who had been convicted for killing his wife elicited perhaps his most personal, most beautiful poetic piece, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.” A sort of renewed spiritual fervor gripped him during his stay in prison as well. To get a sense of the transformation that Wilde was undergoing, look at his De Profundis. Yet I don’t think Oscar Wilde’s spiritual bent should really surprise anyone. He was,
