FOR FREE PEOPLE

A CEO Was Shot Dead. These People Cheered.

FOR FREE PEOPLE

Oscar Wilde’s tomb in Père Lachaise cemetery, Paris. (Giuseppe Masci via Alamy)

Things Worth Remembering: Oscar Wilde’s Final Masterpiece

Three years before his death, the famous wit penned a poem to a doomed prisoner that became his own epitaph.

Welcome back to Douglas Murray’s Sunday column, Things Worth Remembering, where he presents passages from great poets he has committed to memory—and explains why you should, too. To listen to Douglas read from Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol, click below:

In The Invention of Love, Stoppard has a foil for the tightly wound, buttoned-up scholar A. E. Housman: another poet and scholar who was his near contemporary but could not have been more unlike him—Oscar Wilde.

The Irish-born Wilde was only a few years older than Housman, knew his brother Laurence, and admired A Shropshire Lad. But he must have been a terrifying figure to Housman. After all, Wilde was gay, like Housman, and had been exposed for it. And not just exposed, but in 1895 tried, convicted, and sentenced to two years’ hard labor, which was expected to be enough to kill someone of Wilde’s background.

It must have required an extraordinary degree of control, but with the example of Wilde, men like Housman had even more of a reason to hide, sublimate, or otherwise disguise their true selves. The poems of Housman’s published after his death included an unusually bitter and frank poem clearly inspired by Wilde’s persecution. Obviously, Housman felt he could never have published it in his own lifetime. 

The opening goes:

            Oh who is that young sinner with the handcuffs on his wrists?

            And what has he been after, that they groan and shake their fists?

            And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air?

            Oh they’re taking him to prison for the color of his hair.

Maintaining The Free
Press is Expensive!

To support independent journalism, and unlock all of our investigative stories and provocative commentary about the world as it actually is, subscribe below.

Subscriber Benefits:

  • Unlimited articles including weekly columns
  • Early access to live events
  • Access to the comments section

Already have an account? Sign in

our Comments

Use common sense here: disagree, debate, but don't be a .

the fp logo
comment bg

Welcome to The FP Community!

Our comments are an editorial product for our readers to have smart, thoughtful conversations and debates — the sort we need more of in America today. The sort of debate we love.   

We have standards in our comments section just as we do in our journalism. If you’re being a jerk, we might delete that one. And if you’re being a jerk for a long time, we might remove you from the comments section. 

Common Sense was our original name, so please use some when posting. Here are some guidelines:

  • We have a simple rule for all Free Press staff: act online the way you act in real life. We think that’s a good rule for everyone.
  • We drop an occasional F-bomb ourselves, but try to keep your profanities in check. We’re proud to have Free Press readers of every age, and we want to model good behavior for them. (Hello to Intern Julia!)
  • Speaking of obscenities, don’t hurl them at each other. Harassment, threats, and derogatory comments that derail productive conversation are a hard no.
  • Criticizing and wrestling with what you read here is great. Our rule of thumb is that smart people debate ideas, dumb people debate identity. So keep it classy. 
  • Don’t spam, solicit, or advertise here. Submit your recommendations to tips@thefp.com if you really think our audience needs to hear about it.
Close Guidelines

Latest