"De Profundis" is an extended letter by Oscar Wilde to his former lover Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie"), written during the
author's imprisonment in Reading Gaol. At this point, Wilde was nearing the end of his life. It complains of Bosie's selfishness, pettiness, neglect, greed, extravagance, tantrums and neglect.
Wilde also praises selfless devotion of Robert Ross ("Robbie"), who became his literary executor. Ross gave the work its present title
De Profundis taken from the opening line of Psalm 130. It was published with an edited version in 1905, and a fuller text appeared in 1949.
Psalm 130 from the Bible is
traditionally referred to as
De profundis, after its Latin incipit, one of the so-called "
Penitential" psalms. That point in his life, the brilliant writer Oscar Wilde was in his inmost depth of despair and degradation. As a lament, this penitential psalm,
De Profundis, has been frequently set to music by composers, including Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Mendelssohn.