author
Alfred Bruce Douglas
1870–1945
Best remembered for his intense and fateful relationship with Oscar Wilde, this English poet also published verse, translated work, and spent decades trying to define his own literary identity. His life moved from Oxford glamour and scandal to religion, memoir, and late reflection.
1 Audiobook
The Placid Pug, and Other Rhymes
by Alfred Bruce Douglas
About the author
Born into the aristocratic Queensberry family in 1870, Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas was educated at Winchester and Magdalen College, Oxford. At Oxford he edited The Spirit Lamp and began writing poetry, earning the nickname "Bosie," the name by which he is still widely known.
Douglas became closely linked with Oscar Wilde in the 1890s, and their turbulent relationship helped set off the chain of events that led to Wilde's 1895 trials and imprisonment. That notoriety followed Douglas for the rest of his life, often overshadowing his own work as a poet, editor, translator, and memoirist.
Even so, he continued to publish for many years and remained a vivid, controversial figure in British literary life. Later in life he converted to Roman Catholicism and wrote about his experiences and beliefs, leaving behind a story that is inseparable from Wilde's but also marked by ambition, literary activity, and a restless desire to be remembered in his own right.