In The Ballad Of Reading Gaol Analysis

1782 Words4 Pages

In the Ballad of Reading Gaol is the latest and, according to some critics, the greatest poem of Oscar Wilde. In this long ballad, the poet Oscar Wilde digests his experiences in the prison. He was sentenced imprisonment because he was convicted for having a homosexual relationship with one of his student. The Ballad of Reading Gaol was written when he got out of the jail. (1898) After he released from the prison, he was overthrown and abased, that influenced him to write the poem. Also, Wilde was inspired by the incident, which is his inmate’s, Charles Thomas Wooldridge’s, execution to write down his last work. Besides, he somehow dedicated this poem to the memory of this guard who was sentenced for killing his wife brutally. Around his story-telling form, Wilde describes his strong feeling of guilt against his family and his shame. This ballad shows that how deep Wilde has been suffered. The type of poem is an objective story telling poem and a kind of a protest poem because it also refers the cruelty and brutality of jails. Around his narrative core, it is an identification of prisoners and criticism of the justice system, especially the death penalty system. The Ballad is not written in a traditional ballad form. There are 109 stanzas (total of 654 lines), which are grouped 6 parts or with term which is used by Ezra Pound, this poem is grouped into six “cantos”. Every part has different numbers of stanzas; the third part is the longest part with thirty-seven stanzas. The first part has sixteen stanzas, the second part has thirteen verses, the forth part has twenty-three lines, the fifth part has nine and the sixth part has three stanzas. Wilde further uses iambic tetrameter, which has four repetitions of the pattern of stres... ... middle of paper ... ...an executed man and himself in the prison. Guilt and remorse are the essential units of the society, which always judges and discriminates people just because they are thinking differently. The main issue in the poem is the hypocrisy of the society and justice system. It depicts the ideas efficaciously and creates a powerful impact on the readers. Oscar Wilde suffered very much to create a great art and humanity. However, Wilde turns his terrible situation to a masterpiece. Although capital punishment does not exist nowadays, cheating is still very common in real life. Punishments against murders can be changed, but hence the people have always been very disgraceful and greedy against each other, cheating will have always been in the society. Therefore, the general idea of Oscar Wilde, which is making someone whom you love upset or oppressed, will be eternized.

Open Document