He was a true original in a contrarian sense, by his refusal to go along with any movement or school of modern poetry. Actually, his poetry is infinitely more absorbing than these things and will surely outlive them. His work had been overshadowed in our time by his fascinating life and the intense media and public interest in the 19th century soap opera of Oscar Wilde and the Marquess of Queensberry. My Great-Uncle, Bosie Douglas, is now finally coming into his own and being recognized as the fine poet he truly was.

During his lifetime, he published numerous volumes of poetry, a number autobiographical works, and edited several periodicals. Frank Harris also gave him extravagant praise as a sonneteer, comparing him with Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw compared him to Shelley. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, compiler of The Oxford Book of English Verse, believed that Douglas wrote the finest sonnets of his time, sonnets that few other English poets had ever equaled. However, some of the most well-known people of his day had the highest praise for his poetry and sonnets. He is known to many as the intimate friend of Oscar Wilde. Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas, or 'Bosie' as he preferred to be called (a nickname gained in childhood), was an accomplished poet, writer, and editor. The Unofficial Website of Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas The Unofficial Website ofĬhalk and pastel drawing by Sir William Rothenstein

Lord alfred bosie douglas