Unit E

Writers and texts

Oscar Wilde

The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

The prison experience. Following his trial in 1895, Wilde was

imprisoned in Reading jail (“gaol” is a variant spelling) from 1896 to
1897. This ballad, Wilde’s most famous poem, was begun after his
release, and finished during a stay in Naples with Alfred Douglas. It was
published under the pseudonym of C-3-3, Wilde’s own reference number
as a prisoner. Though Wilde’s personal experience as a prisoner is the
driving force behind it, the poem is formally built around the story of a
soldier who has been sentenced to death and hanged in Reading jail for
having killed his lover. The poem is made up of 107 stanzas divided into
six sections.

 The frontispiece Purification through suffering. The Ballad of Reading Gaol shows no
by Frans Masereel traces of Aestheticism but derives from the tragic experience of prison.
for The Ballad of
Reading Gaol, with It is Wilde’s last poem and his most inspired one, striking a new note
the prisoner’s head in his writings: a keen sense of human suffering and sympathy for his
substituted with  A woodcut by Frans
C-3-3, Wilde’s Masereel illustrating
fellow beings. The convicted soldier around whose figure the ballad is
reference number the second stanza of built is not so much a ruthless assassin as a poor victim of life’s tragedy,
in prison. the poem: the prisoner twice over: first because he has killed not because of cruelty or greed
walking in line with
the other sentenced or hate, but for love; secondly, because prison turns a guilty man into
men; while the others a victim: whatever he may have done, suffering and being deprived of
all look down in
dejection, he looks liberty are in themselves a form of expiation and purification.
wistfully up at the sky. The poem is typical of the ballad genre in that it features plain
language, repetition, similes,
metaphors, internal rhymes, and
an apparent simplicity of thought
which in fact hides profound truths.
The ballad form also helps Wilde to
adopt the voice of a man speaking
to a community – as in the ballad
tradition – and so give universal
scope to his feelings.

The ballad’s symbolism and social

protest. The Ballad of Reading Gaol
has both a symbolic and a social
meaning. The soldier – to whom
the poem is dedicated – becomes the
symbol of man’s tragic destiny. He is
seen as a sacrificial victim who pays
for man’s sins. The analogy with the
figure of Christ is clear, though this
is not an openly religious poem. Here
 The Victorians
(1837-1901)

Writers and texts

the analogy is perhaps more with Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner Key points
where again the protagonist kills without knowing why and
has to pay for his action. Nature herself – again as in Coleridge’s Rime ➤ pity for the sufferings not only of the
– seems to revolt against this, and the prison walls shake; the sky turns prisoners but of all men

from blue to “scorching” red. ➤ symbolic and social meaning of

imprisonment
But the fundamental injustice the ballad exposes is not just that a man’s
life is going to be taken away but also that this happens within a context
of society’s general hypocrisy. All men kill, in a way (lines 37-54), though
not literally: some kill with words, some with a look, some with money
and some with greed, some repent and some do not. In the end, though,
the man who openly killed the person he loved is the only one who pays.

Study queStionS
1 Refer back to Wilde’s life and say why and when he 3 What is the social aspect of this ballad?
was sentenced to prison. 4 Why do you think Wilde chose the ballad form for his
2 How does Wilde consider the protagonist of The poem?
Ballad of Reading Gaol?

For Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves

Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)

This passage is from the first section of The Ballad of Reading Gaol. As is usual in ballads, the
verse begins in the middle of the story: “He” is the new prisoner, the man whose hands were red
with wine and blood when he was caught after killing the woman he loved.

1 Why do you think Wilde wrote this poem? b to criticize the injustice of the prison system Speaking
a to protest against his imprisonment c to tell a pitiful story

He did not wear his scarlet coat, brilliant red

For blood and wine are red,
And blood and wine were on his hands
When they found him with the dead,
5 The poor dead woman whom he loved,
And murdered in her bed.

He walked amongst the Trial Men1 among

In a suit of shabby grey; (logoro)
A cricket cap was on his head, (berretto a visiera)
10 And his step seemed light and gay; quick 1. Trial Men: sentenced
men (but whose sentence
But I never saw a man who looked might still be appealed
So wistfully at the day. sad and full of desire against).
 Unit E
2. That... swing: that
man must be hanged.
3. each man... loves:
everybody spoils or
destroys something or
turns good into evil.
This is the ballad’s sad
leit-motiv.
4. By each... heard: let
everybody know this.
5. Lust: here the word
retains something of its
old meaning of ‘unruly
passion’.
6. The kindest... cold:
it is more merciful to kill
with a knife than with
words or looks or the
power of money, since
death by knife is quicker
and the person does not
suffer.
7. Yet... die: yet not
everybody dies for this.
Writers and texts
I never saw a man who looked
With such a wistful eye
15 Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky,
And at every drifting cloud that went (portata dal vento)
With sails of silver by. (vele) / i.e. went by, passed
I walked, with other souls in pain, i.e. men
20 Within another ring, i.e. area
And was wondering if the man had done
A great or little thing,
When a voice behind me whispered low,
“That fellow’s got to swing.”2
25 Dear Christ! the very prison walls those same
Suddenly seemed to reel, vacillate, sway
And the sky above my head became
Like a casque of scorching steel;  (incandescente) / (acciaio)
And, though I was a soul in pain,
30 My pain I could not feel.
I only knew what hunted thought i.e. obsessive
Quickened his step, and why made quick
He looked upon the garish day too bright
With such a wistful eye;
35 The man had killed the thing he loved,
And so he had to die.
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,3
By each let this be heard4
Some do it with a bitter look, hard
40 Some with a flattering word, (di adulazione)
The coward does it with a kiss, (vigliacco)
The brave man with a sword! courageous, bold
Some kill their love when they are young,
And some when they are old;
45 Some strangle with the hands of Lust,5 (strangolano)
Some with the hands of Gold;
The kindest use a knife, because
The dead so soon grow cold,6 become
Some love too little, some too long,
50 Some sell, and others buy;
Some do the deed with many tears, action, i.e. crime
And some without a sigh;
For each man kills the thing he loves,
Yet each man does not die.7
 The Victorians
(1837-1901)

Writers and texts

 Wood
engraving of
Reading Gaol,
Berkshire, from
The Illustrated
London News, 17
February 1844,
shortly after it
had opened.
Despite being
notorious as
Oscar Wilde’s
prison, Reading
Gaol was in
fact built on the
same plan as the
model prison
Focus on the text. The first part of the ballad presents the new prisoner, who killed the at Pentonville:
woman he loved: his hands are red with blood and so he must die. The prisoner is aware each cell was
of this while he turns around the prison yard with a wistful eye, probably thinking of the provided with
hammock, stool,
woman he loved. The poet, now a prisoner himself, feel this man’s deep pain and pities him table, gas light,
because he must die. All the people kill their love in many different ways (some with a wash basin and
WC. Cells were
smile, some with the sword, some with lust, some with money) but society does not punish arranged in three
them because they do not use external violence as did the prisoner. The ballad becomes a tiers opening
powerful accusation of social hypocrisy, which condemns some individuals but does not onto balconies
overlooking the
deal with the violence and misery that underlies many people’s lives. central hall.

guided analySiS
1 Read stanza 1. 5 Read to the end.
a. What is the narrative presented? The three final stanzas are a reflection on violence in
b. What is the predominant colour? human relationships.
a. Describe the different ways in which “each man kills
2 stanzas 2 and 3 describe the murderer in prison. the thing he loves”.
a. What feelings does he express? b. What does the poet consider to be the kindest way
b. What colours dominate in the prison? and why?
3 in stanzas 4 and 5 the poet comes into the scene. c. What fundamental injustice is exposed in the last
a. How does he feel and what does he come to know stanza?
about the prisoner? 6 Find out.
b. How does the prison landscape change when the In the poem there is an exclamation addressed to
poet becomes aware of the murderer’s fate? Christ and an indirect reference to an episode in His
4 Read stanza 6. life. Point them out.
The poet explains the reason why the prisoner must
die. What is it?

Writing neS
7 Write a short comment on The Ballad of Reading Gaol. (maximum 100 words)

8 Underline the parallelism between Wilde’s poem and Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner focusing on the
symbolism used in the two poems and their view of life. (maximum 250 words)