Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish writer, poet, and playwright who wrote two celebrated collections of fairy tales: The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1891). His stories - including The Happy Prince, The Selfish Giant, and The Nightingale and the Rose - blend beauty and melancholy with sharp social commentary. Wilde's fairy tales are widely regarded as among the finest literary fairy tales written in the English language.