I never would have thought that I'd love macabre poetry but I guess between this and Edgar Allen Poe, I most certainly do. I absolutely loved this dark poem.

Wilde is reflecting on his time in prison as he and other prisoners watch the final process of another prisoner's hanging sentence for killing his wife. He describes his first thoughts of watching the prisoner walk towards his death, not yet knowing what the prisoner's crime was.

"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.

I walked, with other souls in pain,
Within another ring,
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.’ "

As the poem goes on, it's clear that in addition to being about prisoners, crime and societies treatment of criminals, it's also a powerful allegorical exploration of sin and forgiveness.

"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!

He doesn't mean this literally of course, but that we all disappoint the ones we love (including God) in some way or another, and in so doing kill bits of that love. At least that's my interpretation anyway. The poem is ultimately hopeful, but I won't share all the good parts. That would be impossible because I loved every bit of this poem. I'll be reading more of Wilde's poetry.

This is definitely not the Wilde many people are familiar with- here he eschews the characteristic wit in favour of a sorrowful, dark lament about prison life and the concept of prison in general. This poem isn't in the vein of some of Wilde's more well-known works and honestly, it's all the better for it.

Read the poem here and read more about Wilde's time in prison here.

"Herkes öldürür sevdiğini" kısmına geldiğimde birden Tuncel Kurtiz'in sesi belirdi zihnimde.

A Killer named Jealousy


A man who murdered his wife in an act of uncontrollable jealousy was sentenced to death by hanging, and yet ... “all men kill the thing they love”

Is that true?
Do we kill the ones we love?
I don’t see it as a rule, but a possibility:
How manny relationships have been broken by jealousy?
Jealousy pops in, hate comes along and bitterness does the dirty work!...

What once was beautiful is now a wreckage, poisoned to death

n  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!n

Wow. I don't read poetry much, even less in English. But I have been listening to Rupert Everett's reading simultaneously looking at the lyric (warning: Everett skipped a few verses) and it was touching.

I was inspired by 'Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)' group, although the group plans to read it the next month.

Es muy doloroso, lo demás me lo guardo para mí.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol is the last work by Wilde, which is sad for many reasons. 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. Everything he wrote is smart, unique, and careful. He is witty, funny, critical. And this poem is nuanced and beautiful. It is based on Wilde's personal experience while incarcerated in Reading jail. After his release he lived in exile and wrote this sad and evocative poem which is mostly about an execution that took place while he was in the prison. He divulges the dire conditions of prison life, and his personal humiliation and shame from his imprisonment.

I listened to the poem, read by Rupert Everett within the walls of the Reading jail. It is available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03XpN...

Prior to this I have read Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray which is smart, sarcastic and philosophical, and his play The Importance of Being Earnest which is witty and funny as hell. But this poem is so much more emotional and profound. It touches your heart. The entire video is only 22 minutes long, so anyone can have enough time for this gem.

A very moving poem from the time that Oscar Wilde spent in prison, where he and the other in-mates watch a man waiting to be hanged for killing his lover. The crime obviously resonates strongly with Oscar and the punishment that the man is to, and does, receive. The terror, despair and horror of Oscar's experience in that prison seeps through the whole poem.

It makes me wonder, as I have often in the past, what Oscar's life would have been like if he hadn't brought that court case against the Marquis of Queensbury. Oscar was such a vibrant, creative and intelligent man, broken by his time in prison. Although I suppose that it is more poignant for me as I live in the town in which Oscar was incarcerated and the 'gaol' is still in use today.

A powerful poem built around Wilde’s two year jail time utilizing the metaphor of the crucifixion of Jesus.

La ballata del carcere di Reading fu pubblicata in forma anonima nel 1898 da Leonard Smithers, l’unico autore inglese disposto ad accogliere l’opera.
Il testo si presenta in sottoforma di poema musicale popolare, con schema metrico abc, bdb, e il suo ritmo riprende il passo circolare a cui sono costretti i detenuti. Si tratta di una delle ultime opere del Wilde, dal tono biografico e meditativo, dato che fa riferimento al periodo forse più devastante della sua vita, ovvero la prigionia in seguito alla condanna di omosessualità e diffamazione causata dalla tormentata relazione con Alfred Douglas. Proprio per questo il poeta firma la ballata con C 3.3, la sigla che egli ebbe da prigioniero.
Il poema ruota intorno a due dimensioni, realtà e fantasia, cui filo conduttore è la pena di morte. Infatti, ad ispirare Wilde fu l’impiccagione di un soldato condannato per aver sgozzato sua moglie. Il poeta, che ne fu testimone, rimase profondamente colpito dal pentimento di quell’uomo, tanto da provare compassione per lui. Secondo Wilde alla fine “ogni uomo uccide ciò che ama” giungendo, quindi, a concepire l’amore come portatrice di sofferenza. Proprio per questo il perdono va concesso a tutti gli uomini come atto umano di speranza, vedendo nella redenzione la via verso la salvezza.
Allo stesso tempo, il poeta approfitta dell’episodio per creare un’invettiva contro l’inadeguatezza del sistema carcerario descrivendo le condizioni e i lavori forzati a cui i detenuti sono sottoposti.

Wilde is one of a kind. I don’t think I’ve read longer format poetry like this before which was a fun challenge.

I don’t know everything that is going on, but he talks about how being on the mill (treadmill) is torturous physically and psychologically, which is… very relatable. But it was used as punishment then so that makes a lot of sense.

Hace mucho que no leía poesía, y este poema tiene una prosa fascinante. Empecé bien el año. (: