Into an empty space. The prison of its prey. With the yellow face of Doom. Are like horrible hammer-blows. That the throat may thirst no more. Into the hideous shed. The kiss of Caiaphas. So wistfully at the day. Its ravelled fleeces by. And drank the morning air. As though it had been wine! The man who had to swing. Had such a debt to pay.

By the hideous prison-wall, And a little heap of burning lime, That the man should have his pall. For he has a pall, this wretched man, Such as few men can claim: Deep down below a prison-yard, Naked for greater shame, He lies, with fetters on each foot, Wrapt in a sheet of flame! And all the while the burning lime Eats flesh and bone away,

May 19, 2021 · Oscar Wilde, the poet and playwright, was the most famous inmate of Reading Gaol. In 1895, he was convicted of ‘acts of gross indecency with another male person' and sentenced to two years with hard labour. In Reading Gaol he became prisoner C.3.3 - the occupant of the third cell on the third floor of C wing. At first, Wilde was treated harshly.

Jul 31, 2021 · In February of 1895, Wilde brought a private prosecution for libel against the Marquess of Queensberry, who had publicly called him “a posing sodomite". Wilde’s friends had advised him to...

Oct 20, 2016 · In 1895, celebrated writer Oscar Wilde — author of The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray -- was convicted of homosexual activity and sentenced to two years, most of...

Oct 21, 2024 · It was written after Wilde’s imprisonment in Reading Gaol, where he served two years of hard labor. The poem reflects on the execution of a fellow prisoner and the broader themes of justice, suffering, and the dehumanizing effects of the penal system.

Reading Gaol is a well-known part of the town, but not everyone realises that it was built over the abbey site. The first prison here was built in 1785 over the former abbey infirmary. The remains of the eastern end of the abbey church were also destroyed to make way for the new prison.

The Reading Gaol was one of the first to introduce the tread-mill as a form of punishment, and it became the custom for people to go and watch prisoners undergoing their painful and useless labour of treading the mill. This gaol was in its turn condemned, and a …

The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) (vv. 1—174) In Memoriam C.T.W. Sometime Trooper of the Royal Horse Guards. Obiit H.M. Prison, Reading, Berkshire, July 7th, 1896 I. 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, 5

Nov 30, 2024 · The Ballad of Reading Gaol was written by Oscar Wilde in 1897, during his imprisonment at Reading Gaol (a prison located in Berkshire, England). Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard labor after being convicted of “gross indecency” due to …