ballad of reading gaol Flashcards
For blood and wine are red and blood and wine were on his hands
And his step seemed light and gay.
Ballad of reading goal
analysis : The speaker shows his surprise at the content disposition of his fellow prisoner given that they are in prison and his execution is near.
The man had killed the thing he loved / And so he had to die.
Ballad of reading goal
analysis : The speaker acknowledges that a wrongful act was committed by the man Charles Wooldridge. The reality is that there will now be consequences for his actions.
The kindest use a knife, because / The dead soon grow cold.
Ballad of reading goal
analysis : The speaker drives forward the idea that the use of a knife leads to a quick death. This comment shows that although the man Charles Wooldridge had committed the act, he also cared for the wife.
And, though I was a soul in pain, / My pain I could not feel.
Ballad of reading goal
analysis : The speaker demonstrates his sympathy for a fellow prisoner who is facing execution. He puts his own feelings aside and sympathizes with the pain of the fellow prisoner.
For … the sword of Sin / Pierced to its poisoned hilt, / And as molten lead were the tears we shed / For the blood we had not spilt.
Ballad of reading goal
analysis : The speaker and fellow prisoners all feel anguish for the actions they have committed as compared with a poisonous sword. They believe their guilty conscience provides more pain than any other punishment could.
But I never saw a man who looked / So wistfully at the day.
Ballad of reading goal
analysis : The speaker shares with the reader his observations of the subject. He observes the regret displayed by the subject and his acceptance of what is to come.
With open mouth he drank the sun / As though it had been wine!
Ballad of reading goal
analysis : The speaker gives a description of the subject’s actions leading to his execution day. The speaker observes from a subjective view how the subject admires the sun as he knows that his days are numbered and he will never be able to enjoy the sun’s rays again. The speaker compares this act to drinking wine and demonstrating how fulfilling it is.
The man who had to swing
Ballad of reading goal
analysis : The subject of the poem is set for an execution. The use of “swing” represents the noose to be used in the execution. The use of “had” explains that this action will occur and is not an option.
He often said that he is glad / The hangman’s hands were near.
Ballad of reading goal
analysis : The speaker describes Charles Wooldridge’s acceptance of the consequences he is facing. The speaker believes the man is looking forward to his demise.
And wondered why men knelt to pray / Who never prayed before.
Ballad of reading goal
analysis : The speaker sees the prison as a place where there is no hope. He believes that the prison walls influence the prisoners who did not believe in Jesus Christ when they entered the prison to start praying now.
‘the poor dead woman whom he loved’
ballad of reading gaol
analysis : ‘poor’ makes it clear she was the victim, ‘whom he loved’ humanises the incident
‘little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky’
ballad of reading gaol
analysis : contradiction, sky suggests freedom, but little tent gives sense of entrapment
‘He does not pray with lips of clay
For his agony to pass’
ballad of reading gaol
analysis : religious elements, suggests that Wooldridge knows he can’t be saved
horror stalked before each man and terror crept behind
borg
analysis : the criminals are victimised, haunted forever
