Here is a quick route to Wilde’s last words – if you wonder what that might be. I received this via an admirably informative email from ‘Oscholarship: Oscar Wilde & the fin de siecle’ Group member John.
Thank you for sharing with us, John.
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There were no ‘dying’ words of Oscar Wilde. Robert Ross who was present at Wilde’s death wrote to More Adey shortly afterwards saying:
“..at 1.45 the time of his breathing had altered. I went to the bedside and held his hand, his pulse began to flutter. He heaved a deep sigh, the only natural one I had heard since I arrived, the limbs seemed to stretch involuntarily, the breathing came fainter; he passed at 10 minutes to 2 p.m. exactly.”
In this letter Ross records the last articulate words Wilde had spoken to him* a couple of weeks earlier (since Ross left for Nice in the interim). What Wilde’s actual last words were (i.e. not ‘dying’ words) has not been verified, so don’t believe the myriad examples you may find quoted.
spy
* Look out for some little cup in the hills near Nice where I can go when I am better, and where you can come and see me often.
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‘Oscholarship : Oscar Wilde & the fin de siecle’ can be found here
Tags: literature, Oscar Wilde
