Wilde's works are suffused with his aestheticism brilliant craftsmanship legendary wit & ultimately his tragic muse He wrote tender fairy stories for children employing all his grace artistry & wit of which the best-known is The Happy Prince Counterpoints to this were his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray which shocked & outraged many readers of his day & his stories for adults which exhibited his fascination with the relations between serene art & decadent life Wilde took London by storm with his plays particularly his masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest His essays
- in particular De Profundis- & his Ballad of Reading Gaol both written after his release from prison strikingly break the bounds of his usual expressive range His other essays & poems are all included in this comprehensive collection of the works of one of the most exciting writers of the late nineteenth century