“The Ballad of Reading Gaol"[20] was published in January, 1898, over the signature of C.3.3., Oscar’s number in prison.  In a few weeks it ran through dozens of editions in England and America and translations appeared in almost every European language, which is proof not so much of the excellence of the poem as the great place the author held in the curiosity of men.  The enthusiasm with which it was accepted in England was astounding.  One reviewer compared it with the best of Sophocles; another said that “nothing like it has appeared in our time.”  No word of criticism was heard:  the most cautious called it a “simple poignant ballad, ... one of the greatest in the English language.”  This praise is assuredly not too generous.  Yet even this was due to a revulsion of feeling in regard to Oscar himself rather than to any understanding of the greatness of his work.  The best public felt that he had been dreadfully over-punished, and made a scapegoat for worse offenders and was glad to have the opportunity of repairing its own fault by over-emphasising Oscar’s repentance and over-praising, as it imagined, the first fruits of the converted sinner.

“The Ballad of Reading Gaol” is far and away the best poem Oscar Wilde ever wrote; we should try to appreciate it as the future will appreciate it.  We need not be afraid to trace it to its source and note what is borrowed in it and what is original.  After all necessary qualifications are made, it will stand as a great and splendid achievement.

Shortly before “The Ballad” was written, a little book of poetry called “A Shropshire Lad” was published by A.E.  Housman, now I believe professor of Latin at Cambridge.  There are only a hundred odd pages in the booklet; but it is full of high poetry—­sincere and passionate feeling set to varied music.  His friend, Reginald Turner, sent Oscar a copy of the book and one poem in particular made a deep impression on him.  It is said that “his actual model for ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ was ‘The Dream of Eugene Aram’ with ‘The Ancient Mariner’ thrown in on technical grounds”; but I believe that Wilde owed most of his inspiration to “A Shropshire Lad.”

Here are some verses from Housman’s poem and some verses from “The Ballad”: 

    On moonlit heath and lonesome bank
      The sheep beside me graze;
    And yon the gallows used to clank
      Fast by the four cross ways.

    A careless shepherd once would keep
      The flocks by moonlight there,[21]
    And high amongst the glimmering sheep
      The dead men stood on air.

    They hang us now in Shrewsbury jail: 
      The whistles blow forlorn,
    And trains all night groan on the rail
      To men that die at morn.

    There sleeps in Shrewsbury jail to-night,
      Or wakes, as may betide,
    A better lad, if things went right,
      Than most that sleep outside.

    And naked to the hangman’s noose
      The morning clocks will ring
    A neck God made for other use
      Than strangling in a string.