(16 pages) The Sphinx Long poem about sensual beauty of the Sphinx and the mysterious grandeur of the ancient world she represents. Next Section Analysis Previous Section Themes How To Cite in MLA Format Lena, Braga. Long ballad written after Wilde was released from the Reading prison. Will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.

You can help us out by revising, improving and updatingĪfter you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. For them, time seems to drag on and stretches to infinity which only amplifies the hardship they have to face. They remained stuck in an endless night where darkness became the only reality they knew and where light and hope didn’t exist.

The prison walls influences those who didn’t believe in God to start thinking about him and to start to pray to him.įor those inside the prison, the morning brought no comfort. His final resting place is the cemetery of Pere Lachaise in Paris. Bankrupt, disgraced, and in exile, Wilde was to die not long after his release at the age of 46. As Wilde observed: Something is killed in me. Inside the prison, a place where there was no hope and where those inside where reminded constantly of the possibility of being hanged, the idea of God and forgiveness becomes the only thing keeping those inside from becoming hopeless. The Ballad was written from personal experience, and there was to be no more writing after this. The idea that men find peace in religion and prayer becomes a motif from the beginning of the poem. The poison inside their body slowly kills them and their guilty conscious produces more pain than any other punishment could. The prisoners are all tormented by the sin they have done, a sin compared with a poisonous sword. The narrator describes the feeling he and other inmates experience while being in prison. Oscar Wilde The Ballad of Reading Gaol Share Poet Copy to clipboard Home Explore Poets About Oscar Wilde Wilde’s imprisonment for homosexuality in 1895 ended a spectacularly successful career. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.Īnd as molten lead were the tears we shed 1900 He looked upon the garish day with such a wistful eye the man had killed the thing he loved, and so he had to die. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

Oscar wilde poem the ballad of