The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Oscar Wilde's poem, written after his release from prison, on a trooper hanged at Reading Gaol for murdering his wife.

Start reading7 parts, about 4,100 words

Famous lines

• I never saw a man who looked
  With such a wistful eye
  Upon that little tent of blue
  Which prisoners call the sky,
  And at every drifting cloud that went
  With sails of silver by.

  Part IIn context

  • Freedom

• Yet each man kills the thing he loves, from all let this be heard. Some does it with a bitter look, some with a flattering word. The coward does it with a kiss the brave man with the sword.

  Pt. I, st. 7In context

• For he who lives more lives than one
  More deaths than one must die.

  Part IIIIn context

  • Life & Death

• I know not whether Laws be right,
  Or whether Laws be wrong;
  All that we know who lie in gaol
  Is that the wall is strong;
  And that each day is like a year,
  A year whose days are long.

  Part VIn context

  • Justice
  • Laws
  • Time

Contents

1. In Memoriam
2. Part I
3. Part II
4. Part III
5. Part IV
6. Part V
7. Part VI