The meanings of his poems were not fitting for the time he lived in, because society and hims had different views points on life. Especially, in Victorian England which was going through both the Romantic and Gothic period of art. Additionally, Wilde was well aware of how people saw him and even if it was not positive he did not let it hinder him, instead he used it in his works. For instance, during an interview he had in America, Wilde stated, “They heard me and went away and talked about my tie and the way I wore my hair. I could not understand how people could do such a thing” (qtd. in The Harvard Crimson). Even in America a land that appeared to be more accepting than the United Kingdom, people were making judgments about him. However, …show more content…
Which, make sense since in his writing he does not shy away from, attacking society, like society attacks him. As illustrated, in the book Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann, he includes a cartoon of how people perceived Wilde and quite a few of them were done like political cartoons. One, in particular, was a drawing of him dressed as a woman with lipstick. Further, the style of the drawing was unflattering and looked like it was meant to be rude (Ellmann 429). The image depicted could have been used to poke fun at his feminine side or his sexuality. Further, this show just how huge of a figure he must have been in his time, considering this was published in a newspaper. It also shows Wilde was an extremely open person in his lifestyle and writer, if people were actually able to pick up on the fact that he was not a regular cissexual heteronormative man, who submitted to …show more content…
One professor states, “An overarching theme in the poet’s work is social satire, where Wilde critiques social issues like the relation and rapport of the sexes or the social conventions of love” (Kemper). This is one of the countless ways Wilde expressed his feelings about the time he lived in. Even if it was not always clear cut that it was meant to make fun of society, it was still in several of his works and not just Pictures of Dorian Grey. A novel that is known for being heavily laced in satire. Therefore, after dissecting it and seeing the true meaning, one can see the cruelty Wilde held in his art. One example where Wilde uses satire is in his poem “Flowers of Love.” Where he is talking about social norms and gender roles. Further, during his schooling, he sharpens his views on society and in a paper, Dr. Helfand states, “Wilde’s rejection of realism was based on an evolutionary culture theory. He believed that a society could not only progress by celebrating an environment more dominated by the creation of minds, of non-mimic art and criticism in all forms” (Helfand 193-194). Nevertheless, his views on society were incorporated into his poetry, by the uses of different literary