Like many of his contemporaries, Oscar Wilde's life was gilded by success but marred by tragedy. Wilde was born October 16, 1854, the second son of Sir William Wilde and Jane Wilde, both well-known to the intellectual scene of Dublin, Ireland. Wilde attended Trinity College in Dublin with his older brother, William, before being accepted into Magdalen College at Oxford, after winning a scholarship.
While Wilde won many prizes and awards for his poetry, he was best-known during his lifetime as a journalist, playwright, and novelist, as well as a popular socialite. Despite his flamboyant style and biting wit, Wilde suffered many tragedies throughout his life.
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| Wilde in 1882 |
When Wilde was only 12, his younger sister, Isola, passed away suddenly of an 'effusion of the brain' at the age of 9. It is said that the two were particularly close and that her death left his with feelings of deep loneliness and survivor's guilt. It is said that when his body was found, one of the few possessions he had on his person was an envelope containing a few strands of her hair.
This early tragedy has often been overshadowed by later events in his life. Wilde being one of the biggest celebrities within English and Irish society, it was the scandal to end all scandals when he was tried and found guilty of 'sodomy' and 'gross indecency' and sentenced to two years hard labour at Reading Gaol prison, now HM Prison Reading.
The Ballad of Reading Goal was written after his time in prison, immediately after fleeing to France. The poem's popularity continued long after his death, the first few editions being published without the author's name due to his ostracization by society.
Yet, it is Requiescat that William Butler Yeats chose to include in his popular anthology of Irish verse, and it is this poem that the Birmingham Post declared, "the brightest gem in this collection."
Requiescat:
Tread lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.
All her bright golden hair
Tarnished with rust,
She that was young and fair
Fallen to dust.
Lily-like, white as snow,
She hardly knew
She was a woman, so
Sweetly she grew.
Coffin-board, heavy stone,
Lie on her breast,
I vex my heart alone,
She is at rest.
Peace, Peace, she cannot hear
Lyre or sonnet,
All my life’s buried here,
Heap earth upon it.
At once understated and heart-wrenching, it's simplicity reflects the young age at which this tragedy occurred. At the time of Isola's death, Wilde was only 12. Child mortality rates were devastatingly high during Victorian England, and this may have also contributed to the poem's popularity. It is now suspected that Isola may have suffered from meningitis, causing encephalitis.
We will never know the true circumstances of Isola's death, as medicine had not advanced very far during this time. However, after her headstone was mysteriously stolen and never recovered, local townfolk erected a new headstone containing the first stanza of Requiescat.
In an interesting twist of fate, the stone sourced for this new headstone came from the same county as the Wilde family's summer home, Moytura, where Isola had spent the summers of her short life and where her father had erected a memorial for her.
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