Oscar Wilde came to America because he wanted to sleep with Walt Whitman, and then did exactly that

[@gptandtft]

Wrote a paper on this in high school. Needless to say, I failed that algebra class...

[@lilithslair4120]

😂💦😂💦😂💦😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

[@ayannag4760]

gptandtft Hilarious!

[@meeksde]

gptandtft are you sure you didn’t fail algebra because you suck at it.

[@frankenspine98]

🤣👌🏻

[@RealMexFoodShouldntGiveUDrrhea]

Boy if you don’t getcho-

[@Flowtail]

When I saw the video in the sidebar it said "Oscar Wilde came to American because he wanted to sleep" and I was all "that sounds interesting, did he have some kind of medical condition?" and then it was even better

[@cascharles3838]

When I saw it it said "Oscar Wilde came to America because he wanted to sleep with Walt Whitman" and I was all ha what a lad a guy can dream I suppose, then I clicked on it and it showed "and then did exactly that" and i was like HA WHAT A LAD

[@bbirdie9226]

#metoo

[@timfromthegrocerystore]

@@bbirdie9226 uh...

[@bbirdie9226]

That’s why I watched the video. Same reason as you... Me too.

[@drifterman319]

Love of women insipid? Kind of gross actually.

[@d34dch1n4d0ll]

*Spilling some literary tea*

[@艺术人生]

haha, I wondered what on earth you were alluding to...

[@taliaf.3221]

fun fact: westboro baptist church once protested at my school because we're "walt whitman high school." its kind of a point of pride!

[@selina2052]

MoCo gang rise up

[@c2e.7877]

That's hilarious.

[@starylize]

MoCo!!!

[@tangent94]

Yo!! I remember that! I wanted to go to the counter protest but didn't have a ride!

[@drifterman319]

Kinda gross. No; Way gross.

[@fallingeast4601]

oh my god they were *roommates*

[@melissakaleka1070]

I don't know why this is in my recommendations but I'm not complaining

[@Black_pearl_adrift]

Yotube thinks were all gay. I mean theyre not wrong but...

[@starylize]

same here

[@heyborttheeditor1608]

Netflix and “thee and thou terms”

[@LAYUOR]

omggg😭😭😭😭😂😂😂

[@jonathanbarnes3061]

I like it and my mandatory hitherto "thee" and "thou" shall commence without delay and as though no lapse had ever occurred. Additionally you should encourage all you meet whether numbskull or scholar emphatically to do the same regardless of socioeconomic status, tenure Priestley duties,clergymen and base ne're-do-well and jetset elitist equally.

[@hermionepurni9]

""you don't have to go but like. don't come back for three hours or so, m'kay?""

[@kllwc7772]

dazaihatebot lmao 😂

[@imtubing]

i hear mr mackey

[@alixinthemiddle]

Oh shit. "Thee and Thou" terms? That's super steamy and extremely intimate. I feel mildly scandalized anyone would be bold enough to say that to someone else.

[@PseudoMystic]

When I first head "Make America Great Again" I legit thought, "You mean gay rugged and mystical like Walt Whitman?"

[@80yearsold23]

PseudoMystic 👏👏👏👏👏

[@joshjames582]

Can confirm.

[@otoyana]

Make America gay again.

[@caroline8166]

PseudoMystic yes, exactly like that!

[@johnnydtractive]

Transcendental America ftw

[@winterflower8543]

is this a wattpad fanfiction?

[@missmysterymagic]

Winter Flower i would honestly read a fanfic about this. So down for it.

[@samantha4669]

Jesus my professor was just discussing homosexuality in 19th c. American Literature and he was basically like "yea, Whitman was obviously gay and his poetry is obviously, superbly gay and him and a few other high profiles you know..."

[@stagelinedpro]

Whitman- I support prohibition Also Whitman- Hey Oscar let's have some wine

[@englishfood13]

Okay but like going to another country for a booty call is iconic, twenty gayteen

[@Jivanmuktishu]

This was no booty call, but two double.gee (Gay and Great) poets finding someone who understands their predicament, in each other's arms.

[@vitoriasannino7838]

I'M HOWLING THIS WAS ALL I'VE EVER WANTED

[@degsbabe]

Exactly what Queensbury said at Wildes sentencing.

[@jakebates5918]

BLUSHING FROM THIS VIDEO!!! My kink is queer historical facts

[@laurenlatta495]

ahhh me!!

[@lisin4444]

In Ireland a lot of literary figures got into drama with eachother (one author got with this poet's crush cough -Yeats and maude gonne- cough who was cousins with another poet) and they would make poems basically roasting eachother (olden day diss tracks??). Not only that but some politicians/leaders knew the poets and they were in the same circles (maude gonne and marcievicz were buddies and so on). I'm Irish and I have to say our writers are a blast to learn about.

[@CathyD1976]

Are You trying to say Markievicz? Was Gay She was not Many were but She was not. As for Maud Gonne MacBride She was bleeding nuts She had Sex at Her sons grave to try recreate Him. Yeats was in love with Her and many of His poems are about His long desire to be with Her. He even turned his desire to her Daughter Iseult when He wasn't getting no where which was sick because she was a mere teen and he was an old man and Maude didn't have much time for her Daughter as she wanted to recreate her lost son

[@Elena-sy8zy]

I know its obvious but this is so gay i love it

[@jamesgretsch4894]

Why love it?

[@shittyunicorn539]

@@jamesgretsch4894 why not?

[@thedevilsadvocate5210]

There was an episode of Have Gun Will Travel were Paladin rescued Oscar Wilde

[@ButterWarrior101]

SO. GREEK. AKA THE CULTURE KNOWN FOR BEING HELLSA BISEXUAL.

[@cravenlunatic1]

I wish this whole encounter had been included in the biopic Wilde (which conveniently stars Stephen Fry, and i'm sure you've already seen it) but they probably didn't want to admit on the big screen that a 62 year old had sex with a 26 year old.

[@madamvaudelune3298]

@Apagando Las Luces IKR? Sex can be a lot of things, a lot of kissing, gentle touching, it doesn't have to be a rodeo or a wrestling match-I'm 62, it better not be!!!! more sweet and tender then weird, I think.

[@mspinkytee]

You mean two men having sex.

[@patricaomas8750]

Same with 300 spartans

[@madamvaudelune3298]

@mspinkytee maybe the age difference is something that puts us off a bit, not the 'two men' thing. 62-26 is quite the age difference, if it were a hetero relationship, would still not quite be the norm.

[@Scyllax]

waitingfor2020 Walt Whitman always fancied “fair, stripling boys”. Another close friend was a New York cabdriver who was in his 20’s when they buggered each other like stoats.

[@dukadarodear2176]

A confirmed bachelor in my Irish village was forced to share a bed with a buxom, middle-aged lady, due to her being stranded in a storm. Next night in the local bar he was asked if it was true that he had slept with the lady. He answered as follows: "No, but I may have dropped off once or twice".

[@Lankynibs]

I should have known Oscar Wilde would be a Libra.

[@johnnydtractive]

"Libra (Wilde) and Gemini (Whitman) have an easy rapport since they're genuinely curious about other people. Both have a light approach, which makes the relationship feel fresh. They'll enjoy sharing ideas about everything, taking in cultural events and perhaps collaborating. Both are air signs and tend to meet the world through ideas, and even fall in love with them. Initial sparks can fly when the words flow, and both are delighted by the conversation. On the mental level, they're skipping merrily holding hands, and finding the chat exhilarating. However, big thinkers like these can also think themselves into negativity loops. Libra tends to push the envelope and will press Gemini for a solid opinion. The changeable Gemini might feel under pressure to perform, as an intellectual heavyweight. When Gemini jokes their way out of the situation, that's Libra's cue to accept them for who they are."

[@tainoman1998]

A libra and born in the year of the tiger

[@williamdelong8265]

Libra believes in life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their own.

[@williamdelong8265]

Gemini two of the nicest people you could meet.

[@sleekoduck]

Elderberry wine: the Coors of the 19th Century.

[@skinkscat]

I just drank some coors and liked one textpost about walt and then this shows up in my recommended! Wack!

[@michealkelly9441]

The kiss of Whitman could very well be an euphemism

[@tgarcia6443]

It sure was *coughs*

[@johnnydtractive]

I love that Wilde only had to mention to a reporter that he was a fan of Whitman, & there's a note from Whitman waiting for him at his hotel, lol. As Whitman would say: "We were together. I forget the rest".

[@boogaloo_frog8410]

Women for duty, boys for pleasure.

[@swetztalk5416]

§ I HOPE. GINO BASH YOUR HEAD... ABOMINATOR!

[@sweatergod5386]

Based.

[@neegas3490]

This really took 3 years to pop off

[@jasmag5026]

This is amazing Rosie, your content is the best thing I've ever seen, please keep on with your KZbin.

[@Flowtail]

7:00 The 1800s equivalent of an awkward pause followed by "...WELP I'm gonna go now youtwohavefunbyeeee"

[@AlejandraRiveravenusblume0602]

Omg it seems that young oscar used to lile sugar daddys and later he became one🤣 i love that man so much i love his works and his life was like a drama

[@czarpeppers6250]

He seriously does look like Stephen Fry, that popped into my head even before the annotation.

[@aurora_-]

Lol wow the things they don't teach you in school. Everyone would have loved English class so much more if they left in the sexy bits.

[@SM_zzz]

"Sexy"? Hmm...

[@counterflow5719]

A few years back the London museum of art had an entire exhibit on erotic art of the west that has been hidden from general view for centuries and millenia even.

[@kaleksykt]

lol i always thought oscat wilde looked a lot like stephen fry

[@fandommusings5302]

kaleksykt he does! its so uncanny

[@cidevant002]

There is an actual movie about Oscar Wilde (I think is called Wilde even) where Stephen Fry played him and Jude Law played as one of his lovers. Is thanks to that movie (that was the first gay work I have ever seen) that I fell in love with his writing. Edit: Yeah, is called Wilde and is from 1997.

[@kaleksykt]

Candy Von Bitter oh right i love that movie ^.^ it was so nice and had a nice ending

[@cidevant002]

Yay

[@kaleksykt]

Candy Von Bitter word

[@brandonhall6290]

Does this mean Wildeman is a thing? Or is it Waltcar? I think Wildeman rolls off the tongue well. Great video!

[@salamalmahi541]

Brandon Hall I APPROVE OF WILDEMAN

[@jamesalexander5623]

WildWhit! .... appropriate no?

[@joecaner]

The original Whitman sampler...

[@Stephen-Fox]

This is beautiful. "Thee and thou" terms indeed.

[@Hi-om9bl]

This contradicts the fact that Oscar's first homosexual encounter was Robbie coming on to him- and Robbie was around after his first child's birth I believe.

[@luc716]

Not really, because Oscar and Robbie's relationship is a rumor. Robbie publicly denied having any sexual or romantic relationship with Oscar.And Robbie, compared to Oscar, was very open about his sexuality. He came to his family as gay just at 18 and was accepted. According to Harris (this is not a very reliable source, although he was Oscar's close friend), Oscar had his first love when he was a teenager with other boy from school. Oscar showed interest in men at an early age. For example, he told a girl he was seeing that he would fall in love with her if she were a man, or he signed up for cricket at Oxford to admire a student with perfect Greek legs. Some people believe that Miles and Wilde had a romantic relationship - the fact is that they were inseparable. They spent most of their time together and even moved in together

[@filmtheory101]

Historical fact: at the time, Whitman was living at his brother's house, after suffering a massive stroke. Not only that, but in the same house another of his siblings, severely handicapped, was also residing. Whitman worked in the best of his ability, writing and publishing from home, but was assisted in the every day tasks. So, the whole fictional scene of Whitman opening the door and having sex with Wilde, is just that: fiction.

[@rnshi]

Interesting

[@mrod87]

Bc people with handicaps can’t have sex?

[@lookoutforchris]

@@mrod87 gay sex is not sex.

[@60sspider-man29]

@@lookoutforchris yes it is.

[@stache1954]

He could have just laid back and enjoyed a beej.

[@toughmantn4280]

Beautifully done. Nicely documented and completely engaging.

[@valmarsiglia]

I think they referred to themselves as aesthetes, not aesthetics.

[@johne.nobody2946]

Wilde reincarnated in the form of Stephen Fry.

[@randyfool2065]

Oh my goodness. This is amazing. I love how so many sources pretty much sum up that they did in fact had some intimate times. Will you be talking about Sappho soon?

[@fandommusings5302]

Lol! Sappho is definitely on my list.

[@rixx46]

@@fandommusings5302 you make me connect with my inner Lesbian. Love your channel.

[@josepholeary3286]

@@rixx46 I hope she talks of Sappho with respect

[@luc716]

McKenna is not a reliable source..

[@c2e.7877]

That video made me Wilde fan 2 years ago. Thanks for that, really changed me as a human.

[@jamesbeanmachine857]

This is such a cute story! Thanks for sharing.

[@FriendofDorothy]

Fun to speculate about but based on what I've read about their tastes in males I am more willing to believe the men talked literary shop, got drunk together, Walt made a few gently rebuffed moves, and they indeed did "sleep together" intoxicated but I doubt anything "arose to the occasion". Whitman supposedly only had one bed ( a clever choice considering his fondness for entertaining local "striplings") so where else would Wilde sleep? They were each into different types of young men. Also, I hate to make him sound like a priss, but I believe Oscar would not be sexually attracted to Whitman, who was aged and grizzled looking rather than a young dandy. I have a feeling the truth of their encounter was just as eccentric as the two personalities involved but not exactly the "steamy encounter" of an M/M romance jack-book.

[@tomsaltsman]

Most younger gay men would cringe at the thought of having sex with a man as old as Whitman was at the time. So I think Wilde's response, "his kiss is still on my lips," was a nice way of saying how grossed out Oscar was when the bearded old fart came onto him.

[@kristianj.8798]

Why is Franz Liszt on the cover of The Picture of Dorian Grey?

[@accordingtosophia]

Finally, someone else noticed it!!!

[@mntsmelody2577]

1:37 the book says picture of Dorian Gray while using the painting of Franz Liszt

[@greyedgerton2890]

Sexual orientation has always fascinated me. Wilde has always been something mythical just out of reach. I never really read much of him until these vids started showing up. For me a truly inspirational figure. Fascinating person.

[@madamvaudelune3298]

@Grey Edgerton There is a kind of orientation, I think, for those like myself, we are called 'sapiosexual,' that simply means that the MIND is the most erotic and creative love-toy a human being can have. . Male, female, young, old, ripped, smooth....a strip tease for the sapiosexual is the gradual revealing of the searing hot. buttery smooth, -melts-on-your-tongue fantasies and kinkiness brewing behind that cool, bespectacled visage, or that gentle smile. I do think O.W. was a sapiosexual, what do you think?

[@josepholeary3286]

@@madamvaudelune3298 -- if he had been a sapiosexual he would not have got into such trouble

[@madamvaudelune3298]

You have never read of his all-sacrificing love for Bosie, or his love for Walt Whitman. You will never be a sapiosexual, my poor friend, because such a love is bound only to the mind, not to the petty tattles and bourgeois strictures of the common herd. Too bad for you.

[@Super000x000]

I am a bodysexual. Just give me some boobs (some ass is good as well if you are a gay bodysexual)

[@teenherofilms]

Oscar Wilde came to America to make a living giving lectures. That is why he came to America.

[@juniemoon1528]

You sound so much like Francesca from The Damage Report. Great voice.

[@HOULWOOD]

Oscar Wilde, a groupie

[@skinkscat]

My recommended knows what kind of content I want. I read a 400 page biography on walt for school and I didnt get to read about THIS!

[@markofsaltburn]

GAY: A GAY MUSICAL

[@dianatutt400]

Is that where Hall & Oates got their inspiration from? "Your kiss is on my lips..."

[@castilllione]

This was hilarious! Thanks! You have any more? :)

[@Len124]

0:42 Well, I clearly came here for the wrong reasons.

[@andrewgibbon-williams7974]

They may well have kissed, but Oscar's taste in beautiful YOUNG men and 'rough trade' is well documented, so it's unlikely there was any erotic side to this encounter. Oscar probably just wanted the experience of kissing the great poet, so as to be able to 'show off' about it later. Typical of him! SWIN-burne, by the way, not SWINE-burne.

[@deborahchinn2439]

I love both these geniuses so very much! This account just makes me hold them in even higher esteem!

[@littleogeechee223]

Whitman was a handsome creature, and, while there is a resemblance, Wilde was much better-looking than Fry.

[@nonosays]

Certainly flirtatious, but Wilde didn't engage in his "feasting with panthers" behavior for another ten years. And he wrote passionate letters about his wife's beauty too.

[@molotovmafia2406]

we stan a bi/pan/omni king

[@VintageSucculent]

@@molotovmafia2406 he wasn’t actually bisexual, he had a wife because of societal standards and only like women as friends.

[@flockofwolves]

So is this what all female bookworms fantasise about?

[@spookisghostly4619]

My dad would shoot the computer

[@Flowtail]

Lol, I guess this was back when drinking was a viable bedding strategy ...wait..

[@andersliljevall2946]

Have people not red Wilde and Whitman? They are both quite open abt preferences esp Whitman. But to assume that they had sex is just typical of today's world.

[@venusianblivet9518]

To assume people didn't have sex in the past because people didn't talk about it as freely is a much more modern view.

[@rixx46]

Interesting... Bram Stroker (I mean STOKER) was also enamoured with Whitman and there are conjectures about the nature of their 'friendship' as well. Good for them all - I hope they felt inspired and loved. I would love to know what else Wilde got up to in America - particularly the American West. He was apparently quite a hit with the silver miners in Nevada and Arizona. Ride'm cowboy...

[@isotopefeeney]

What a shock!! 2 gay guys had gay sex !!! I wonder if hetero writers ever had hetero sex?? The mind boggles!!!

[@nataliaquiroga4015]

Oscar Wilde came to America yada yada yada Wilthman, and that's the tea. I thought that was the title and I have to say such a missed opportunity

[@Sam_Utah]

This was good. I wrote a Thesis on Whitman's Naturalistic approach to spirituality but having read his letters and the Calamus poems, he was certainly the Good Gay Poet. But he was also a genius and his Democratic Vistas is pertinent even today. Years ago I used to quote Oscar Wilde "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" as general commentary on life. sub.

[@barbarajennings3283]

@Swine-burne 8:00+ and the misquote of "Two Loves" by A.L. Douglas--you could use an edit. Otherwise everything leading up is good.

[@carolleenkelmann3829]

Aesthetics? Nothing could be less, than that meeting of Oscar and Walt. This 3rd floor studio , a "den"; having to inebriate oneself before being able to "perform", bonding through belittling; all that is missing are the sexually explicit photos or drawings. Poetic licence is already documented on separate accounts.

[@clarekuehn4372]

Swinburne is pronounced like swim not swine. Fyi. But thanks; this is interesting!

[@harryflashman9495]

Apparently the reviewer Rufus Wilmott Griswold is an ancestor of Clark W Griswold.

[@michaelz9892]

As someone who knows a lot about both authors I found the content of this video to be mostly accurate (although we really do not know what transpired the day the writers met) but why the sarcastic and silly tone?

[@cascharles3838]

Cause it's funny dude

[@michaelz9892]

@@cascharles3838 Don't see the humor.

[@cascharles3838]

@@michaelz9892 I'm sorry to hear that, but whether or not you can see the humour is completely irrelevant. It was intended to be funny and many people succeeded in seeing it as funny.

[@georgebethos7890]

First of your videos I have seen, excellent, and very funny

[@TomodachiHana]

Omg i was so sad because i saw this video last year and couldn't find it again since i had forgotten the title, how could i forget such an iconic title?? Great video by the way 💕

[@katjathiele3194]

I don’t give a fuck who is fuckking who ! That art is important !

[@bdk3736]

Lmmfao this is lovely! So funny!

[@stache1954]

An early example of a Grindr hookup.

[@kaleahcollins4567]

I just went to the Oscar Wilde store .

[@connerleemusic]

wow this made me cry i love it so

[@weirdo_with_a_paintbrush]

From now on I am using "thee and thou terms" as a euphemism

[@ovecka17]

recently found out that walt whitman is gay and now i can say i am proud that i go to a school named after him

[@JamesBrown-ij1px]

What a fantastic story! And so well conveyed! Has anyone written a play about this encounter? I'd love to see it! Maybe I'll write it! Or You!

[@Jivanmuktishu]

Excellent report, but for your mention of "Swine-burne". It's "Swin" not "Seine"!

[@Canemikat]

drink everytime she says elderberry wine

[@axica5434]

This is so interesting! You just earned a sub :D

[@aricwood869]

Ok, I’m not trying to take anything away form this poet on poet action, but, Walt was a teetotaler right? So why would he start getting sloshed as soon as Wild showed up?

[@feliciadale1740]

Oh... this is so funny and wonderful!

[@michealkelly9441]

They had drinks on the porch at his home and exchanged quips. Neither one of them suggested sexual tension or otherwise

[@madamvaudelune3298]

Well, i would say "HA ! A MATING OF EAGLES!" but more like an emu and a retired battery chiken...

[@christopherbarber5283]

it really is nuts how much wilde looks like stephen fry. crazy

[@ankurdesval5588]

Thanks God, someone else sees that as well. Finally.

[@Neko141212]

.... I'm confused, how does that biography know what happend in a room where there was only two people present?? Did Wilde or Whitman recount their sexy times to someone??? Or is this just basically fanfiction???

[@fandommusings5302]

Wilde wrote about it. He liked to brag apparently

[@RadChannel]

@@fandommusings5302 No, he didn't

[@stoutyyyy]

Oscar “love is a sacrament best taken kneeling” Wilde was not discreet about his sexual preferences, in a time when that could get him imprisoned or killed. A legend.

[@zabooza74]

It's fanfiction.

[@edwardianspice1]

Walt Whitman wasn’t Oscar’s type

[@paultidwell8799]

Oh my god I've found Malory's work before too she's hilarious.

[@tomoole]

Oh for this to be read eloquently and skillfully in soft, dulcet tones by someone like the wonderful Irish actor, writer impresario and orator .... Micheál Mac Liammóir..... Ah !!!!

[@SidLaw500]

Who's the more likely power bottom?

[@gregorybrian]

Interesting. If he didn’t drink and was for prohibition, why did he provide and drink elderberry wine?

[@SloppyStroke]

Damn, old dude still got it in him

[@ushoys]

Yes, apparently he did get it in him.

[@bamboozled1668]

Sending someone to jail for sodomy feels like sending someone to buffet for fat camp 😂