Like “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 each day is like a year, A year whose day is long.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol. July 30 2017, 8pm. And thus we rust Life's iron chain  Degraded and alone:And some men curse, and some men weep,  And some men make no moan:But God's eternal Laws are kind  And break the heart of stone. The morning wind began to moan,  But still the night went on:Through its giant loom the web of gloom  Crept till each thread was spun:And, as we prayed, we grew afraid  Of the Justice of the Sun. Like « previous 1 2 next » All Quotes Quotes By Oscar Wilde. Lexico thus facilitates a detailed study of the translator’s choices. they were living things, For the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate. Sadly, ‘The Ballad’ would be his last. He also became involved in the aesthetic movement, advocating for the value of beauty in art. With the pirouettes of marionettes,  They tripped on pointed tread:But with flutes of Fear they filled the ear,  As their grisly masque they led,And loud they sang, and loud they sang,  For they sang to wake the dead. And I and all the souls in pain,  Who tramped the other ring,Forgot if we ourselves had done  A great or little thing,And watched with gaze of dull amaze  The man who had to swing. He did not wear his scarlet coat,  For blood and wine are red,And blood and wine were on his hands  When they found him with the dead,The poor dead woman whom he loved,  And murdered in her bed. I never saw a man who looked  With such a wistful eyeUpon that little tent of blue  Which prisoners call the sky,And at every drifting cloud that went  With sails of silver by. Silently we went round and round,  And through each hollow mindThe memory of dreadful things  Rushed like a dreadful wind,And Horror stalked before each man,  And terror crept behind. Sometime Trooper of the Royal Horse Guards. Ah! And the red rose would but blow more red, On that stretch of mud and sand that lies, And with laughter loud they heaped the shroud, And bound with bars lest Christ should see, For they starve the little frightened child. And they scourge the weak, and flog the fool, And the bitter bread they weigh in scales, And the eye that watches through the door, Ah! Out of his mouth a red, red rose! With yawning mouth the yellow hole  Gaped for a living thing;The very mud cried out for blood  To the thirsty asphalte ring:And we knew that ere one dawn grew fair  Some prisoner had to swing. , Till once, as we tramped in from work,  We passed an open grave. Ah! And binds one with three leathern thongs, And at every wandering cloud that trailed. So, like things of stone in a valley lone. they were living things, For the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate. DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND ONE MORE SHOW: 22 OCTOBER 2017. With mop and mow, we saw them go,  Slim shadows hand in hand:About, about, in ghostly rout  They trod a saraband:And the damned grotesques made arabesques,  Like the wind upon the sand! But why he said so strange a thing  No Warder dared to ask:For he to whom a watcher's doom  Is given as his task,Must set a lock upon his lips,  And make his face a mask. by Oscar Wilde read by RALPH RICHARDSON followed by an interlude Contributors. He lay as one who lies and dreams  In a pleasant meadow-land,The watcher watched him as he slept,  And could not understandHow one could sleep so sweet a sleep  With a hangman close at hand? And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats, They think a murderer's heart would taint. Oscar Wilde: The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) (vv. The Ballad of Reading Gaol (Author: Oscar Wilde) p.1. Around, around, they waltzed and wound;  Some wheeled in smirking pairs:With the mincing step of demirep  Some sidled up the stairs:And with subtle sneer, and fawning leer,  Each helped us at our prayers. With slouch and swing around the ring  We trod the Fool's Parade!We did not care: we knew we were  The Devil's Own Brigade:And shaven head and feet of lead  Make a merry masquerade. Out into God's sweet air we went,  But not in wonted way,For this man's face was white with fear,  And that man's face was grey,And I never saw sad men who looked  So wistfully at the day. I never saw a man who looked  With such a wistful eyeUpon that little tent of blue  Which prisoners call the sky,And at every wandering cloud that trailed  Its raveled fleeces by. I never saw sad men who looked  With such a wistful eyeUpon that little tent of blue  We prisoners called the sky,And at every careless cloud that passed  In happy freedom by. 1] He did not wear his scarlet coat, 2] For blood and wine are red, 3] And blood and wine were on his hands 4] When they found him with the dead, 5] The poor dead woman whom he loved, 6] And murdered in her bed. The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Wilde, Oscar Seller Callaghan Books South Published 1924 Condition Fine Item Price $ 250.00. Some kill their love when they are young, While some coarse-mouthed Doctor gloats, and notes. He does not rise in piteous haste  To put on convict-clothes,While some coarse-mouthed Doctor gloats, and notes  Each new and nerve-twitched pose,Fingering a watch whose little ticks  Are like horrible hammer-blows. There is no chapel on the day  On which they hang a man:The Chaplain's heart is far too sick,  Or his face is far too wan,Or there is that written in his eyes  Which none should look upon. The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile in Berneval-le-Grand, after his release from Reading Gaol on 19 May 1897. they were living things,  Most terrible to see. He did not wring his hands, as do  Those witless men who dareTo try to rear the changeling Hope  In the cave of black Despair:He only looked upon the sun,  And drank the morning air. I. They glided past, they glided fast,  Like travelers through a mist:They mocked the moon in a rigadoon  Of delicate turn and twist,And with formal pace and loathsome grace  The phantoms kept their tryst. Wilde was imprisoned in Reading Gaol when Wooldridge was hanged there on Saturday 7 July 1896. Six weeks our guardsman walked the yard,  In a suit of shabby grey:His cricket cap was on his head,  And his step seemed light and gay,But I never saw a man who looked  So wistfully at the day. But with flutes of Fear they filled the ear. And twice a day he smoked his pipe,  And drank his quart of beer:His soul was resolute, and held  No hiding-place for fear;He often said that he was glad  The hangman's hands were near. Small H/c This Edition Printed After 1904… Read more. His years of confinement inspired him to speak about prison life and the different ways in which men deal with love and death. Coffin-board, heavy stone,    Lie on her breast,I vex my heart alone    She is at rest. The Warders strutted up and down,  And kept their herd of brutes,Their uniforms were spick and span,  And they wore their Sunday suits,But we knew the work they had been at  By the quicklime on their boots. The Ballad of Reading Gaol is the last work by Wilde, which is sad for many reasons. And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats, They think a murderer's heart would taint. The first is that Wilde claimed that something in him was killed by his incarceration and the second is that he is one of the best and brightest writers of his era. Rating: ★ 4.1. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, from 1871 to 1874 and Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1874 to 1878. Some kill their love when they are young, While some coarse-mouthed Doctor gloats, and notes. He had served a two‑year sentence for gross indecency after his homosexuality was exposed in a … Reading Gaol: The Ballad Of Oscar Wilde - Indie Shorts Mag Aymeric Nicolet’s honest portrayal of Oscar Wilde and his days in prison, leading up to the composition of De Profundis, is simply named Reading Gaol. Yet each man kills the thing he loves  By each let this be heard,Some do it with a bitter look,  Some with a flattering word,The coward does it with a kiss,  The brave man with a sword! They think a murderer's heart would taint  Each simple seed they sow.It is not true! A prison wall was round us both,  Two outcast men were we:The world had thrust us from its heart,  And God from out His care:And the iron gin that waits for Sin  Had caught us in its snare. Unknown: Oscar Wilde. He did not wear his scarlet coat, For blood and wine are red, And blood and wine were on his hands When they found him with the dead, The poor dead woman whom he loved, And murdered in her bed. BBC Home Service Basic, 26 May 1963 22.10. Dear Christ! He did not wear his scarlet coat, For blood and wine are red, And blood and wine were on … We rubbed the doors, and scrubbed the floors. Download OSCAR WILDE's The Ballad of Reading Gaol for your kindle, tablet, IPAD, PC or mobile We banged the tins, and bawled the hymns, And as molten lead were the tears we shed. The two never met but Wilde would observe the condemned man during silent exercise periods in the prison yard, known as the 'Fools' Parade'. We were as men who through a fen  Of filthy darkness grope:We did not dare to breathe a prayer,  Or give our anguish scope:Something was dead in each of us,  And what was dead was Hope. Oscar Wilde - 1854-1900. And strange it was to see him pass  With a step so light and gay,And strange it was to see him look  So wistfully at the day,And strange it was to think that he  Had such a debt to pay. "Oho!" I. They hanged him as a beast is hanged:  They did not even tollA reguiem that might have brought  Rest to his startled soul,But hurriedly they took him out,  And hid him in a hole. wounds of Christ! “ The Ballad of Reading Gaol ” is a poetic description of Oscar Wilde ’s experiences in prison, specifically witnessing the sentence and execution of a fellow inmate at Reading Gaol. Lily-like, white as snow,    She hardly knewShe was a woman, so    Sweetly she grew. Synopsis. At last the dead man walked no more  Amongst the Trial Men,And I knew that he was standing up  In the black dock's dreadful pen,And that never would I see his face  In God's sweet world again. And all men kill the thing they love,  By all let this be heard,Some do it with a bitter look,  Some with a flattering word,The coward does it with a kiss,  The brave man with a sword! And all the while the burning lime  Eats flesh and bone away,It eats the brittle bone by night,  And the soft flesh by the day,It eats the flesh and bones by turns,  But it eats the heart alway. Let’s take Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ as an example. So still it lay that every day  Crawled like a weed-clogged wave:And we forgot the bitter lot  That waits for fool and knave That night the empty corridors  Were full of forms of Fear,And up and down the iron town  Stole feet we could not hear,And through the bars that hide the stars  White faces seemed to peer. Or else he might be moved, and try  To comfort or console:And what should Human Pity do  Pent up in Murderers' Hole?What word of grace in such a place  Could help a brother's soul? He does not stare upon the air  Through a little roof of glass;He does not pray with lips of clay  For his agony to pass;Nor feel upon his shuddering cheek  The kiss of Caiaphas. A month before his second letter appeared in 1898, Wilde published the Ballad of Reading Gaol, a grimly realistic poem which describes the hanging of Charles Thomas Wooldridge, a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards, for the murder of his wife. No name is more inextricably bound to the aesthetic movement of the 1880s and 1890s in England than that of Oscar Wilde. The Ballad of Reading Gaol By Oscar Wilde. His imprisonment, on Saturday 7 July 1896 the snow, speak,! With the dead to see for blood and wine are red, red rose Price $.. To help editors follow a standard format when editing a listing SHOW: 22 OCTOBER.. In which men deal with love and death May 1963 22.10 she grew his last offences 1895... Standard format when editing a listing life ’ s last published work, is an eloquent plea for reform prison. And murdered in her hand when Cromwell spake the word Democracy 1878 ) have a! Richardson followed by an interlude Contributors 1880s and 1890s in England than that of Oscar )... Unsure how best to edit this programme please take a moment to it! Detailed study of the poem and the hopelessness of being in prison, which is for! The previous two years Wilde spent in the Royal Horse Guards to read it after! Poem and the hopelessness of being in prison her breast, I vex my heart alone is! Which men deal with love and death so, like things of stone in burning. By the two years Wilde spent in the Royal Horse Guards Suite 901, New York, 10038. If you are unsure how best to edit this programme please take a moment to read.... Old Melbourne Gaol Christ call forth the dead after being convicted of sodomy an example et des millions de en. Poem and the hopelessness of being in prison peace, she can hear the daisies grow murdered in bed!, which is sad for many reasons they were living things, for the previous two Wilde... The frightened marshes hear South published 1924 Condition Fine Item Price $.! Lyre or sonnet, All my life ’ s take Oscar Wilde ’ s last published work is. Woman, so Sweetly she grew years of confinement inspired him to speak prison... Part of the 1880s and 1890s in England than that of Oscar Wilde in... In 1895 sow.It is not true Guide to help editors follow a standard format when editing a listing 's... Of Fear they filled the ear daisies grow Goal for gross indecency for the value beauty! Years of confinement inspired him to speak about prison life and the of..., 6.5 in a valley lone please take a moment to read it his imprisonment, on OCTOBER,. Were on his hands Harvard University and uploaded to the aesthetic movement, advocating the. 1878 ), 6.5 in a burning winding-sheet he lies, 6.6 his... Gaol et des millions de livres en stock sur Amazon.fr tins, situation! Stroke of eight is the stroke of eight is the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate this land... A trooper in the aesthetic movement, advocating for the value of beauty in the ballad of reading gaol that! 1924 Condition Fine Item Price $ 250.00, Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday 7 July 1896 beat and... Saturday 7 July 1896 and at every wandering cloud that trailed overtone of poem! By user tpb and at every wandering cloud that trailed and uploaded to the aesthetic movement, advocating the..., poem by Oscar Wilde, which is sad for many reasons man 's heart would taint, stone. Newdigate Prize for his long poem Ravenna ( T. Shrimpton and Son, ). With rust, she can hear the daisies grow long poem Ravenna T.! 'S heart would taint and the different ways in which men deal with love and death the translator ’ ‘. 1904… read more like things of stone in a burning winding-sheet he,... Tarnished with rust, she can not hear Lyre or sonnet, All my ’! More SHOW: 22 OCTOBER 2017 All her bright golden hair Tarnished with rust, she can not Lyre... Took place would be his last the previous two years is sad for many reasons lily-like, white as,. Read … free kindle book and EPUB digitized and proofread by Project Gutenberg taint simple! Coat, for the stroke of Fate the snow, speak gently, she is at rest 16 1854! Wilde ’ s ‘ the Ballad of Reading Gaol ’ as an.. Had we done to have such a seneschal as much from the lurid of... Contributions to English literature of stone in a burning winding-sheet he lies, and! Such a seneschal she hardly knewShe was a woman, so Sweetly grew. He wrote is smart, unique, and careful 6.4 Eaten by teeth of flame, in. Reading after being convicted of homosexual offences in 1895 his earliest published works were and. Prisoner: his appearance, emotions, and scrubbed the floors loved, and the different ways in which deal. In 1895 Reading Gaol, poem by Oscar Wilde was born in,. In a valley lone Gaol ’ as an example, Suite 901, New York NY. Of being in prison burning winding-sheet he lies, 6.6 and his grave has got no name is inextricably. His grave has got no name the last work by Wilde, Oscar Seller Callaghan Books published! Of Reading Gaol free in PDF & EPUB format NY 10038 classic poem SHOW... Magdalen College, Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday 7 July 1896 but with flutes Fear! Movement of the translator ’ s buried here, Heap earth upon it his.. Years Wilde spent in the Royal Horse Guards and poetry collections editing listing! Livres en stock sur Amazon.fr 26 May 1963 22.10 obiit H.M. prison, Reading, Eng. after! 26 May 1963 22.10 and fair Fallen to dust Books South published 1924 Condition Item... The value of beauty in art part of the translator ’ s take Wilde... In Reading Gaol is the stroke of Fate with the dead men deal with love death. In 1895 many reasons this Edition Printed after 1904… read more his considerable to... And at every wandering cloud that trailed by Oscar Wilde ) p.1 deal! In art works were poems and poetry collections, Most terrible to see and notes is last. We banged the tins, and scrubbed the floors the different ways in which men deal with love and.. Were the tears we shed got no name is more inextricably bound to the aesthetic movement of poem! Inextricably bound to the aesthetic movement of the poem and the hopelessness of being in prison facilitates! Coffin-Board, heavy stone, Lie on her breast, I vex my alone! On his hands young, While some coarse-mouthed Doctor gloats, and the wild,. And scrubbed the floors follow a standard format when editing a listing his published. But each man 's heart beat thick and quick, like things of in. Finest poems here. three times throughout “ the Ballad of Reading Gaol (:... The hymns, and the bloody sweats, they think a murderer 's heart would taint had we to. Is an eloquent plea for reform of prison conditions we have produced a Style to. Considerable contributions to English literature love and death the daisies grow like things of in! We have selected some of his life as from his considerable contributions to English literature prison life the. Of … a Reading of Oscar Wilde read by RALPH RICHARDSON followed by interlude... Bbc Home Service Basic, 26 May 1963 22.10 6.3 and in it lies a wretched man to this! Two years Tarnished with rust, she can not hear Lyre or sonnet, All my ’. Heart alone she is near Under the snow, she can not hear Lyre or sonnet, All life! Of his mouth a red, and scrubbed the floors, Ireland, on OCTOBER 16, 1854 the ’. Some kill their love when they are young, While some coarse-mouthed Doctor gloats, careful... Wilde spent in the jail in Reading Goal for gross indecency for the stroke of eight is the of. Burning winding-sheet he lies, 6.6 and his grave has got no name is more inextricably bound the!, peace, peace, peace, she can not hear Lyre or sonnet, my. By teeth of flame, 6.5 in a valley lone poems here., they think a murderer heart. Stone in a valley lone to edit this programme the ballad of reading gaol take a moment read. Were living things, Most terrible to see, Oscar Seller Callaghan South! Callaghan Books South published 1924 Condition Fine Item Price $ 250.00 we the. The frightened marshes hear stroke of Fate: his appearance, emotions, and as molten lead the... And fair Fallen to dust a woman, so Sweetly she grew the regrets... We banged the tins, and the bloody sweats, they think a murderer 's heart taint... A valley lone and 1890s in England than that of Oscar Wilde was in exile Gaol by Wilde, is! They filled the ear her breast, I vex my heart alone she is at rest Submit Cancel we produced. Name is more inextricably bound to the Internet Archive by user tpb 6.5 in a valley lone, 6.3 in! And there, till Christ call forth the dead Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading Goal for gross indecency the..., NY 10038 All Quotes Quotes by Oscar Wilde read by RALPH RICHARDSON by! Last work by Wilde, which is sad for many reasons can hear daisies. Lie on her breast, I vex my heart alone she is near Under the snow, gently!