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The Ballad of Reading Gaol

by Oscar Wilde

Cover of The Ballad of Reading Gaol
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*The Ballad of Reading Gaol* is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile in Berneval-le-Grand and Naples, after his release from HM Prison Reading on 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading after being convicted of gross indecency with other men in 1895 and sentenced to two years' hard labour in prison.

Fiction, generalEnglish poetryPoetry (poetic works by one author)Classic LiteratureFictionPrisonersPoetryPrisonsImprisonment