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128 April 1882 became the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the extension of copyright protection to photographs. 5. The poem is “Flower of Love” (1881); this is the last of its fourteen verse paragraphs . 33. “Oscar Wilde,” Salt Lake Herald, 12 April 1882 Our reporter called upon Mr. Oscar Wilde on Monday and was received by the distinguished aesthete with characteristic courtesy, Mr. Wilde speaking of his American experiences with the utmost candor. No part of America it appeared has struck Mr. Wilde so favorably as California , but as he said, “I have still to see Colorado.” Whatever may be the effect of Denver and Leadville, it is at present certain that San Francisco and the West Coast have captivated the poet, for Mr. Wilde intends to return there next year with a party of friends, “in the capacity,” as he described it, “of a private gentleman traveling for his own amusement and not as a public lecturer condemned to go on the platform at every place he stops.” Of the results of his tour, financially, the apostle of art decoration spoke very contentedly, and proposes devoting a portion of the proceeds to a lengthened visit to Venice and a leisurely study of Italy. But it was when he came to speak of his reception by the American public that Mr. Wilde was most interesting. “I am,” he said, “more and more astonished and pleased every time I lecture at the courtesy with which I am received by my audiences. Everybody, they say, laughs at me and says I am a fraud, yet not only do they fill any place I choose to lecture in, but they sit out all I have to say with surprising good humor and patience. I am quite conscious that much of what I say may be annoying, but after all I came to America to say it, and so long as audience with such breeding allow me to strut my brief hour upon the stage,1 I should be singularly stupid not to take advantage of the opportunities given me of trotting out my hobbies. I have no doubt that tonight there will be many people present, perhaps even most of them, who, after they have seen me and satisfied their curiosity as to my costume and my long hair, would be glad to go away again without sitting through a lecture on a subject that does not interest them; but at the same time I have no doubt whatever that they will, out of pure courtesy, sit it out to the bitter end. Sometimes I am inclined to laugh at this kindness, knowing that my audiences often laugh at me, but I really consider my opportunity i-xii_1-196_Wild.indd 128 8/4/09 9:11:54 AM April 1882 129 so splendid a one for saying what I wish to say that I only wish my delivery and my language were better than they are. Yes, you are right; my delivery has often been criticized very severely, but I confess it is abominable. But I cannot help it. I have never studied elocution—but I shall when I return to England, probably under Vezin.2 As for my costume, I have several reasons for it, but the more important are these: that the present evening dress of gentlemen is the most objectionable possible, and then I should be glad to do something towards introducing a better. As it is, the prince of Wales3 and some of his friends have already pronounced in favor of the velvet coat, ruffles, knee breeches and silk hose, and it is quite possible that in another year or so all young England may be dressed as I am. Indeed, in New York, one very charming lady has ordered knee-breeches as de rigueur at her receptions , and New York has cheerfully submitted to her delightful tyranny. But another reason for my wearing this costume is based on a principle, for live poets have principles, and that is that one should do as one preaches. Now William Morris, the author of that exquisite Earthly Paradise,4 is prophetically proclaiming the doctrine of artistic dress as a preliminary to a revival of true art, but he goes about himself in the very shabbiest and ugliest of nineteenth-century clothes. I do not agree with this, so that when you call upon me as you do now, you find me dressed in...

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