"Memento senescere: il mito del puer aeternus nella lettura wildiana dei Sonetti di Shakespeare"

The essay proposes a comparative close reading of William Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Oscar Wilde’s novella “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.” (1893). My argument is that the Sonnets are not simply an evident subtext in “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.”, but also a more implicit one in Wilde’s work in general and in The Picture of Dorian Gray in particular. In fact, Wilde’s main theme of the passing of time contrasted by the immortality given by art was ultimately derived from Shakespeare’s collection.