The Ballad Of Reading Gaol

“Her Voice“ and “My Voice“ by Oscar Wilde (1881)

The companion poems “Her Voice” and “My Voice” represent the two sides of a relationship that is coming to an end. In “Her Voice,” a woman comes to terms with the end of a love she had intended to have forever, while “My Voice” captures the man’s perspective.

“The New Remorse“ by Oscar Wilde (1898)

Said to have been written by Wilde to his lover Lord Alfred Douglas while in prison, this short poem is a farewell to a person that the narrator has left with a broken heart. Its theme resonates with the idea that “each man kills the thing he loves” from “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.”

“The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel“ by John Betjeman (1937)

British Poet Laureate John Betjeman’s poem imagines the moments before Oscar Wilde was arrested in his hotel room. This work can be read as a parallel to “The Ballad of Reading Gaol,” which imagines the experiences of a fellow prisoner just before he is executed.