Question

What was the title of the long letter Wilde wrote while in prison?

• A. The Happy Prince
• B. The Ballad of Reading Gaol
• C. De Profundis
• D. The Canterville Ghost

Answer 1

Answer:

C. De Profundis

• The long letter that Oscar Wilde wrote while in prison was titled De Profundis.

• The letter was written to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, who was nicknamed "Bosie". 

• De Profundis is a Latin phrase that means "from the depths".

• Wilde wrote the letter in his cell at Reading Gaol, where he served most of his sentence. The letter took him three months to write, with much revision. 

In the letter, Wilde: 

• Recounts their previous relationship and extravagant lifestyle 

• Indicts both Lord Alfred's vanity and his own weakness 

• Charts his spiritual development in prison and identification with Jesus Christ 

• Expresses his belief that the poor are wise, more charitable, more kind, and more sensitive than we are 

De Profundis is considered one of the greatest love letters ever written. Colm Tóibín, who edited a new selection of Wilde's letters and poems written in prison, described it as Wilde's "greatest piece of prose-writing".