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

Рет қаралды 83,655

7 жыл бұрын

Today we are going to look at an amusing historical fact: The time that beloved poets Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman met, got drunk, and slept together.
The Toast has a great article about this: the-toast.net/2013/09/17/oscar...
Patreon: / fandommusings

Пікірлер: 412

@gptandtft 4 жыл бұрын

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

@lilithslair4120 4 жыл бұрын

😂💦😂💦😂💦😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

@ayannag4760 4 жыл бұрын

gptandtft Hilarious!

@meeksde 4 жыл бұрын

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

@frankenspine98 4 жыл бұрын

🤣👌🏻

@RealMexFoodShouldntGiveUDrrhea 4 жыл бұрын

Boy if you don’t getcho-

@Flowtail 5 жыл бұрын

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 4 жыл бұрын

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 4 жыл бұрын

#metoo

@gerardarthurgay 4 жыл бұрын

@@bbirdie9226 uh...

@bbirdie9226 4 жыл бұрын

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

@drifterman319 Жыл бұрын

Love of women insipid? Kind of gross actually.

@d34dch1n4d0ll 6 жыл бұрын

*Spilling some literary tea*

@user-si7hf8yv6z Жыл бұрын

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

@taliaf.3221 4 жыл бұрын

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 4 жыл бұрын

MoCo gang rise up

@corinnae.7877 4 жыл бұрын

That's hilarious.

@starylize 4 жыл бұрын

MoCo!!!

@tangent94 3 жыл бұрын

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

@drifterman319 Жыл бұрын

Kinda gross. No; Way gross.

@melissakaleka1070 4 жыл бұрын

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

@Black_pearl_adrift 4 жыл бұрын

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

@starylize 4 жыл бұрын

same here

@hermionepurni9 6 жыл бұрын

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

@kllwc7772 4 жыл бұрын

dazaihatebot lmao 😂

@imtubing 4 жыл бұрын

i hear mr mackey

@alixinthemiddle 4 жыл бұрын

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.

@fallingeast4601 4 жыл бұрын

oh my god they were *roommates*

@unhingedskrunkly8512 6 жыл бұрын

Oscar had good taste, Walt was daddy af

@oabilewmatseke684 6 жыл бұрын

Technicolor Snail lol

@mal0u111 5 жыл бұрын

daddy AF 😭😭😭

@CarolFremel-my4hs 5 жыл бұрын

And he was GORGEOUS for a 90 yr old

@tattoofthesun 5 жыл бұрын

Zaddyyy

@madamvaudelune3298 4 жыл бұрын

@Technicolor Snail Dude, I am getting a visual here...oh Lordy, don't know whether to blush or giggle, but what a team! Pity Oscar didn't pull up stakes and haul ass to the right side of the pond!!!

@heyborttheeditor1608 4 жыл бұрын

Netflix and “thee and thou terms”

@LAYUOR 4 жыл бұрын

omggg😭😭😭😭😂😂😂

@jonathanbarnes3061 2 жыл бұрын

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.

@PseudoMystic 4 жыл бұрын

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

@80yearsold23 4 жыл бұрын

PseudoMystic 👏👏👏👏👏

@joshjames582 4 жыл бұрын

Can confirm.

@otoyana 4 жыл бұрын

Make America gay again.

@caroline8166 4 жыл бұрын

PseudoMystic yes, exactly like that!

@johnnydtractive 4 жыл бұрын

Transcendental America ftw

@samantha4669 4 жыл бұрын

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..."

@vitoriasannino7838 7 жыл бұрын

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

@degsbabe 3 жыл бұрын

Exactly what Queensbury said at Wildes sentencing.

@winterflower8543 4 жыл бұрын

is this a wattpad fanfiction?

@missmysterymagic 4 жыл бұрын

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

@jakebates5918 6 жыл бұрын

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

@laurenlatta495 4 жыл бұрын

ahhh me!!

@lisin4444 4 жыл бұрын

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 4 жыл бұрын

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

@stagelinedpro 4 жыл бұрын

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

@englishfood13 6 жыл бұрын

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

@Jivanmuktishu 2 жыл бұрын

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

@dukadarodear2176 4 жыл бұрын

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".

@michealkelly9441 5 жыл бұрын

The kiss of Whitman could very well be an euphemism

@tgarcia6443 5 жыл бұрын

It sure was *coughs*

@ButterWarrior101 5 жыл бұрын

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

@Elena-sy8zy 7 жыл бұрын

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

@jamesgretsch4894 4 жыл бұрын

Why love it?

@shittyunicorn539 4 жыл бұрын

@@jamesgretsch4894 why not?

@thedevilsadvocate5210 4 жыл бұрын

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

@sleekoduck 4 жыл бұрын

Elderberry wine: the Coors of the 19th Century.

@skinkscat 4 жыл бұрын

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

@ShenJones 4 жыл бұрын

I should have known Oscar Wilde would be a Libra.

@johnnydtractive 4 жыл бұрын

"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 3 жыл бұрын

A libra and born in the year of the tiger

@williamdelong8265 Жыл бұрын

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

@williamdelong8265 Жыл бұрын

Gemini two of the nicest people you could meet.

@cravenlunatic1 7 жыл бұрын

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 4 жыл бұрын

@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 4 жыл бұрын

You mean two men having sex.

@patricaomas8750 4 жыл бұрын

Same with 300 spartans

@madamvaudelune3298 4 жыл бұрын

@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 4 жыл бұрын

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.

@neegas3490 4 жыл бұрын

This really took 3 years to pop off

@johnnydtractive 4 жыл бұрын

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".

@jasmag5026 7 жыл бұрын

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

@Flowtail 5 жыл бұрын

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

@toughmantn4280 6 жыл бұрын

Beautifully done. Nicely documented and completely engaging.

@kaleksykt 7 жыл бұрын

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

@fandommusings5302 7 жыл бұрын

kaleksykt he does! its so uncanny

@cidevant002 7 жыл бұрын

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 7 жыл бұрын

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

@cidevant002 7 жыл бұрын

Yay

@kaleksykt 7 жыл бұрын

Candy Von Bitter word

@czarpeppers6250 4 жыл бұрын

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

@jamesbeanmachine857 7 жыл бұрын

This is such a cute story! Thanks for sharing.

@aurora_- 4 жыл бұрын

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 4 жыл бұрын

"Sexy"? Hmm...

@counterflow5719 2 жыл бұрын

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.

@AlejandraRiveravenusblume0602 5 жыл бұрын

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

@boogaloo_frog8410 6 жыл бұрын

Women for duty, boys for pleasure.

@swetztalk5416 4 жыл бұрын

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

@sweatergod5386 4 жыл бұрын

Based.

@joecaner 4 жыл бұрын

The original Whitman sampler...

@corinnae.7877 Жыл бұрын

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

@Hi-om9bl 2 жыл бұрын

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 6 ай бұрын

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

@randyfool2065 7 жыл бұрын

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 7 жыл бұрын

Lol! Sappho is definitely on my list.

@rixx46 4 жыл бұрын

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

@josepholeary3286 4 жыл бұрын

@@rixx46 I hope she talks of Sappho with respect

@luc716 6 ай бұрын

McKenna is not a reliable source..

@Stephen-Fox 7 жыл бұрын

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

@deborahchinn2439 Жыл бұрын

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

@brandonhall6290 7 жыл бұрын

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

@salamalmahi541 6 жыл бұрын

Brandon Hall I APPROVE OF WILDEMAN

@jamesalexander5623 4 жыл бұрын

WildWhit! .... appropriate no?

@castilllione 7 жыл бұрын

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

@georgebethos7890 4 жыл бұрын

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

@kevinkelly7156 5 жыл бұрын

Great story telling!!!

@johne.nobody2946 3 жыл бұрын

Wilde reincarnated in the form of Stephen Fry.

@valmarsiglia 4 жыл бұрын

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

@fhende4845 5 жыл бұрын

Good work!

@ushoys 4 жыл бұрын

That's nice dear. Glad you put your degree to good use.

@kristianj.8798 5 жыл бұрын

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

@sophiatalksmusic3588 4 жыл бұрын

Finally, someone else noticed it!!!

@axica5434 7 жыл бұрын

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

@Len124 4 жыл бұрын

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

@teenherofilms 6 жыл бұрын

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

@greyedgerton2890 5 жыл бұрын

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 4 жыл бұрын

@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 4 жыл бұрын

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

@madamvaudelune3298 4 жыл бұрын

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 4 жыл бұрын

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

@mntsmelody2577 4 жыл бұрын

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

@filmtheory101 4 жыл бұрын

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 4 жыл бұрын

Interesting

@mrod87 2 жыл бұрын

Bc people with handicaps can’t have sex?

@lookoutforchris 2 жыл бұрын

@@mrod87 gay sex is not sex.

@60sspider-man29 2 жыл бұрын

@@lookoutforchris yes it is.

@stache1954 2 жыл бұрын

He could have just laid back and enjoyed a beej.

@connercarey 4 жыл бұрын

wow this made me cry i love it so

@nadineblades393 4 жыл бұрын

This was great 😊

@bdk3736 2 жыл бұрын

Lmmfao this is lovely! So funny!

@mikeash7428 6 жыл бұрын

very well flourished.

@feliciadale1740 4 жыл бұрын

Oh... this is so funny and wonderful!

@TomodachiHana 5 жыл бұрын

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 💕

@skinkscat 4 жыл бұрын

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 4 жыл бұрын

GAY: A GAY MUSICAL

@dianatutt400 4 жыл бұрын

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

@juniemoon1528 3 жыл бұрын

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

@beththewicca 4 жыл бұрын

Not quite sure how I got here but delighted I did! 🖤

@carolnorton2551 6 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

@yankeeluver100 6 жыл бұрын

Quite an interesting video.

@harryflashman9495 4 жыл бұрын

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

@LadyMizra 7 жыл бұрын

Omg this is beautiful >

@nonosays 4 жыл бұрын

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 2 жыл бұрын

we stan a bi/pan/omni king

@VintageSucculent 2 жыл бұрын

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

@JamesBrown-ij1px 2 жыл бұрын

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!

@Sam_Utah Жыл бұрын

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.

@nataliaquiroga4015 4 жыл бұрын

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

@katjathiele3194 6 жыл бұрын

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

@kaleahcollins4567 4 жыл бұрын

I just went to the Oscar Wilde store .

@ellanes77 4 жыл бұрын

Entertaining story

@spookisghostly4619 6 жыл бұрын

My dad would shoot the computer

@clarekuehn4372 4 жыл бұрын

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

@Canemikat 6 жыл бұрын

drink everytime she says elderberry wine

@Flowtail 5 жыл бұрын

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

@tomoole 4 жыл бұрын

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 !!!!

@littleogeechee223 4 жыл бұрын

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

@JosefWigren 4 жыл бұрын

Is this ReignBot's second channel

@carolleenkelmann3829 11 ай бұрын

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.

@weirdo_with_a_paintbrush 2 жыл бұрын

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

@FriendofDorothy 4 жыл бұрын

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.

@aricwood869 4 жыл бұрын

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?

@isotopefeeney 4 жыл бұрын

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

@barbarajennings3283 2 жыл бұрын

@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.

@TXWatson 7 жыл бұрын

Hey, when you do numbered lists you should inset them away from the edge of the frame a bit. Your bottom list items keep getting covered up by the play bar if it hasn't minimized itself. (Awesome videos btw. I really like your work.)