Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was born in Dublin, the son of a surgeon and a poet. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won the Newdigate poetry prize. In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd, and in 1888 he published The Happy Prince. His only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray appeared in 1890. He had major comedy successes in the theatre until he was ruined by imprisonment for homosexual offences. The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) was inspired by his experience in prison