April 6:
Oscar Wilde was arrested on this day in 1895 and Sir John Betjeman was born on
this day in 1906. The two cross paths at the Cadogan Hotel, where Wilde, having
delayed too long any attempt to flee the country, was taken into custody. The
first excerpt below is from biographer Richard Ellmann's account of the famous
moment; the second excerpt is from one of Betjeman's most anthologized poems, "The
Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel":
A half-packed suitcase lay
on the bed, emblem of contradictory impulses. He was tired of action. Like
Hamlet, as he understood that hero, he wished to distance himself from his
plight, to be the spectator of his own tragedy. His stubbornness, his courage,
and his gallantry also kept him there. He had always met adversity head on, to
face hostile journalists, moralistic reviewers, and canting, ranting fathers. A
man so concerned with his image disdained to think of himself as a fugitive,
skulking in dark corners instead of lording it in the limelight. He preferred
to be a great figure, doomed by fate and the unjust laws of a foreign country.
…If he was to be immolated, so must be his age. Reveal him as a pederast,
reveal his society as hypocrite. So he waited, defiant. At ten past six came
the expected knock at the door….
…"More hock, Robbie –
where is the seltzer?
Dear boy, pull again at
the bell!
They are all little better
than cretins,
Though this is the Cadogan
Hotel.
"One astrakhan coat
is at Willis's –
Another one's at the
Savoy:
Do fetch my morocco
portmanteau,
And bring them on later,
dear boy."
A thump, and a murmur of
voices –
("Oh why must they
make such a din?")
As the door of the bedroom
swung open
And TWO PLAIN CLOTHES
POLICEMEN came in:
"Mr. Woilde, we 'ave
come for tew take yew
Where felons and criminals
dwell:
We must ask yew tew leave
with us quoietly
For this is the Cadogan
Hotel"....
Daybook is contributed by Steve King, who teaches in the English Department of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland. His literary daybook began as a radio series syndicated nationally in Canada. He can be found online at todayinliterature.com.
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