Wilde's accent

[fredpuli47]

Did Oscar Wilde have an Irish accent? His family was 'Anglo Irish' but he was brought up in Dublin.

[Razzle09]

Then there is every likelihood that he had a rather polished accent. lol

[Claud.Butler]

You can judge for yourself by 'Googling' "recordings of Oscar Wilde".
There you'll find a link leading to a recording of him reading from 'The ballad of Reading Goal'.

[kempie]

The provenance of the recording of Wilde's alleged recitation is the subject of dispute.

http://www.gyford.com/archive/2009/04/28/www.g eocities.com/scriblerus_uk/page3a.html

http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/clarklib/wil dvoic.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUObQv5guR8

[swedeheart]

Could you find it in your heart to put a link on here Claud.Butler, I can't find the recording (I'm in Sweden and don't always come up with the same search results as someone in the UK or elsewhere).

I did find this article according to which the recording is controversial - even Vyvyan Holland, Wilde's son, said Yes it's him and later on No it isn't...!

The article ^ describes Wilde's voice as "...a highly mannered mix of the patrician drawl with an Irish timbre". I remember having read somewhere that his voice was like brown velvet... don't remember who said it but I think it was a contemporary (i.e. I don't think it referred to the controversial recording).

[swedeheart]

...er... what kempie said...^ (Sorry kempie, you weren't there when I started.)

Nah that's not Oscar I don't think. That's not brown velvet.

[swedeheart]

Loved that other article, kempie!