Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet and a playwright whose career started taking off in the 1880s and then became one of the most popular playwrights in London by the 1890s. The child of a doctor and a poet, Wilde was destined for great things receiving higher education from elite schools where he discovered his interest and passion for literature, specifically Walter Pater and John Ruskin. During his come-up, he found he enjoyed aestheticism which was all the talk of London writers.