The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Oscar Wilde was a major celebrity in the late Victorian era. He was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer. His works are known for their caustic wit. Wilde spent two years in a hard labor prison after being convicted of gross indecency. Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem, published in 1898. The poem tells the story of the hanging of a murderer, Charles Thomas Wooldridge, while Wilde was himself a convict. It concludes with a plea for Christ's forgiveness and protest against prison conditions.