![]() Because of what we now know about Wilde, there is a tendency to try and find homosexual hints in the portrayals of Bunthorne and (to a lesser extent) Grosvenor. ![]() Any account of Wilde's life is almost certain to quote the line from Patience about walking "down Piccadilly with a poppy or a lily in your medieval hand". ![]() Certainly Patience is linked with Wilde, in today's cultural memory, partly because Wilde has become the most famous of the Aesthetes. Oscar Wilde later became associated with Patience for various reasons, including the American lecturing tour which he undertook, in 1882, at the instigation of producer Richard D'Oyly Carte, so that American audiences would understand the satire in Patience. Wilde was not yet the best known of the Aesthetes when Patience was written in early 1881, although he rapidly gained attention during that year and published his first book of poetry ('Poems') at the end of it. Wilde was one of these Aesthetes, but certainly not the only one, and the opera's satire was not aimed at any one person. A popular misconception is that the character of Bunthorne in Patience was based on Oscar Wilde. The latter had already been mocked in a series of cartoons by George du Maurier in 'Punch' magazine. Patience (1881) is in part a satire on the then-current fad for "aesthetic" art, poetry, clothing and furnishings, based on the principle of "art for art's sake", and on the cult following that some Aesthetes enjoyed.
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