I can write no stately proem
As a prelude to my lay;
From a poet to a poem
I would dare to say.
For if of these fallen petals
One to you seem fair,
Love will waft it till it settles
On your hair.
And when wind and winter harden
All the loveless land,
It will whisper of the garden,
You will understand.
-Oscar Wilde, “To My Wife”
Constance Mary Lloyd married Oscar Wilde on May 29, 1889 and has since become The Woman That History Forgot. While she played a major role in Oscar’s life, her importance has been downplayed by many biographers and historians, which is unfortunate. Constance was an intelligent conversationalist, a devoted advocate for women’s rights and dress reform, and an author herself, all while raising two sons and attempting to make her marriage work under extraordinary circumstances. She loved Keats and Petrarch, spoke several languages, played piano, adored acting, and made a very good show of appearing the True Victorian Lady when in truth, she was anything but.
In writing a journal from her point of view, I intend to open the eyes of readers to Constance’s early life, plagued by an unhappy home but enlivened by the presence of great women from whom she took inspiration; her dreams and thoughts as a young woman of the Victorian era; her wedding and marriage to Oscar Wilde, with whom she raised two wonderful sons; her lonely nights and the questions she dare not ask; her interests in art, music, and mysticism; her strength and displays of unconditional love throughout Oscar’s trials and the tragic aftermath.
I have been a fan of Oscar Wilde for several years, and like many others, saw Oscar’s tragedy at face value: that he and Bosie could not be together was indeed a terrible injustice, and his subsequent imprisonment was clearly inhumane. But behind Oscar’s public tragedy lies another: a broken woman, two children without a father, a beautiful family life in ruins. Constance’s story is one demanding of sympathy, yet her actions were proof that she did not need it.
I hope to bring Constance to life in a way that has never been done before: in ‘her’ own words, bestowing upon her the respect and key player status she should have received all this time. Perhaps it will serve to help others in similar situations, as the troubles faced by both Oscar and Constance are still very relevant. When it comes down to it, I am telling her story because, very simply, it deserves to be told.
Nadia Larissa Trousdale
November 23, 2009
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