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Detailed notes covering all AO's of 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol'
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Detailed notes covering all AO's of 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol'. Oscar Wilde. Elements of Crime Writing
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The Ballad of Reading GaolA02
. Ballad form – deliberately chosen so Wilde can speak widely to the proletarian
. Iambic tetrameter and trimeter
. 6-line stanzas (sestet/ sextain)
. Long prolific form divided into six sections which feature varying number of stanzas.
. recurring refrain to accentuate monotony/ no escape – or to emphasise didactic message.
. Elegiac and sympathetic tone
. Third person omniscient narration which shifts to first person narrative – Wilde writes in
propria persona – stanzas fluctuate between HE and I and WE
. first paragraph establishes crime – represented as a crime of passion – domestic crime:
MURDERED IN HER BED – orthodoxly the bed represents refuge, place of intimacy – ironic
instead this is where the transgression occurs.
. Repeated refrain: UPON THAT LITTLE TENT OF BLUE WHICH PRISONERS CALL THE SKY –
elucidates the restriction and lack of freedom for prisoners – complete curtailment – wide
entity is bivouacked – AT EVERY DRIFTING CLOUD THAT WENT BY – almost mocking the
prisoners with their freedom?
. I WALKED WITH OTHER SOULS IN PAIN WITHIN ANOTHER RING – reference to structure in
prison used for exercise and highlights the monotony of this – connotations of Dante’s
inferno – ‘Circles of Hell’ – implies the prison is hell which is a recurrent motif.
. WHAT HUNTED THOUGHT QUICKENED HIS STEP – prey- predator dichotomy – tormented
by guilt
. YET EACH MAN KILLS THE THING HE LOVES… - refrain – Wilde demonstrates that crime is
universal, and everyone is complicit in it – anaphora of SOME illustrates how this crime is
perpetrated in different forms/ways – THE BRAVE MEN WITH A SWORD – attaches a sense
of heroism and honesty to Wooldridge’s murder
. Factual depiction of what occurs when hanged: NOR HAVE A NOOSE ABOUT HIS NECK’… -
feels mechanical in a sense – more disturbing?
. Anaphora of WHO WATCH emphasises the lack of privacy.
. TO TRY TO REAR THE CHANGELING HOPE IN THE CAVE OF DESPAIR – personification of
virtues and capitalisation of abstract nouns – antonyms – Hope is seen as a changeling (half
child half fairy disguised as human) – connotations of deception – sense that hope is futile
because it is deceitful – Wilde is contemptuous of those who hope for reprieve.
. HE DID NOT WRING HIS HANDS NOR WEEP – WATCHED WITH GAZE OF DULL AMAZE –
internal rhyme – prisoners mesmerised by Wooldridge’s nonchalance and calm demeanour
– is this brave – in that he has accepted his fate?
. Juxtaposition between LOVE AND LIFE, DANCE, internal rhyme of FLUTES AND LUTES and
the disturbing ‘Hangman’s jig’: BUT IT IS NOT SWEET WITH NIMBLE FEET TO DANCE UPON
THE AIR – disquieting.
. LEADEN SKY – pathetic fallacy
. Indirect speech of Wooldridge – HE OFTEN SAID THAT HE WAS GLAD THE HANGMAN’S
HANDS WERE NEAR’ – not explicitly explained why – bravery/ acceptance of fate – or feels
deserving of punishment – or wants to escape prison.
. 218-229: Physical labour: Plosive alliteration – internal rhyme mirrors repetitive laborious
action – caesuras amid lines to elongate the tasks, duration, pain – prisoners exploited for
their labour – seen as a way to atone.
, . 236-241: Description of Wooldridge’s empty grave: HOLE + MUD is personified – YAWNING
MOUTH + GAPED + CRIEDD OUT FOR BLOOD – implies the grave is hungry, desperate,
ravenous for prisoners.
. Imperative of HAD TO SWING – inevitability – no escape – SWING has jovial connotations –
seems incongruous.
. ON DEATH AND DREAD AND DOOM – capitalisation of abstract nouns – gives them power,
agency – plosives and polysyndeton – overwhelmingly morbid – succession of dark gothic
images.
. EACH MAN TREMBLED AS HE CREPT INTO HIS NUMBERED TOMB – TOMB becomes
metonym for cells – metaphor suggests the prisoners are already dead inside – because
they are cut off from the living, outside world – succession of dark gothic images.
. Wooldridge – HE LAY AS ONE WHO LIES AND DREAMS IN A PLEASANT MEADOW LAND –
really glorifying Wooldridge’s stoicism – SLEEP SO SWEET A SLEEP – sibilance +
enjambement – uninterrupted peaceful refuge that the other prisoners are denied
. 290-325: EVIL SPRITES mocking/ dancing – personification of TERROR – CROOKED SHAPE
OF TERROR CROUCHED IN THE CORNERS – becomes a tangible entity and proximity
unsettling – diacope of GLIDED – internal rhymes – multiple allusions to dance forms –
RIGADOON + SARABAND + ARABESQUES + DEMIREPS – ghastly gothic performance – cyclical
jolly taunting – ironic parody of what should be beautiful and jolly – spirits begin to sing:
BUT HE DOES NOT WIN WHO PLAYS WITH SIN IN THE SECRET HOUSE OF SHAME – direct
speech in quotations – whole masquerade, fantastical gothic sequence adds a sense of rising
action towards execution itself
. Repetition of SILENTLY WE WENT ROUND AND ROUND – heightens monotony – no escape
. Personification of emotions that become hunters/ antagonistic to prisoners: AND HORROR
STALKED BEFORE EACH MAN AND TERROR CREPT BEHIND
. 465 -470: Anaphora of IT EATS (BURNING LIME) and allusions to BRITTLE BONE, SOFT
FLESH, HEART – raw anatomy – very violent, visceral, horrific – no peace even in the grave –
eternal torture and punishment
. Juxtaposition between pastoral images (that don’t grow in prison) of MILK WHITE ROSE –
soft – pure – and (what is found in prison) THE SHARD, THE PEBBLE, AND THE FLINT – harsh
– sharp – hostile with the disjunction created by THE and caesuras – metaphor? – prison-life
does not support growth.
. THEY THINK A MURDERER’S HEART WOULD TAINT EACH SIMPLE SEED THEY SOW. IT IS NOT
TRUE! GOD’S KINDLY EARTH IS KINDLIER THAN MEN KNOW – Ambiguous as to who THEY is
alluding to – society? – those working withing the carceral systems? – explicitly reproachful
– indicating that human judgement is artificially prejudiced, whereas Earth would forgive.
. NOR MARK IT WITH THAT BLESSED CROSS THAT CHRIST FOR SINNERS GAVE BECAUSE THE
MAN WAS ONE OF THOSE WHOM CHRIST CAME DOWN TO SAVE – Paradoxical -Christ came
down to save sinners (lines from ‘Hail Mary) – yet the Chaplain will not pray by the grave –
elucidating the hypocrisy of Victorian Christian society
. Description of cells – FOUL AND DARK LATRINE AND THE FETID BREATH OF LIVING DEATH
CHOKES UP – macabre image – personification of death – oxymoronic LIVING DEATH –
unsettling – fricatives and harsh assonances.
. Description of physical conditions – food and water – WATER THAT WE DRINK CREEPS
WITH LOATHSOME SLIME – sibilance – rather gross and sinister image – BITTER BREAD –
harsh consonances.
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