Rupert Everett reads The Ballad of Reading Gaol

On Sunday 4 December 2016, Rupert Everett read Oscar Wilde's final work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, in the former chapel of Reading Prison, Reading.
Oscar Wilde was incarcerated in Reading Prison 1895-97 for 'Acts of Gross Indecency with Other Male Persons.' In the year of his release, he wrote this final work, which was published the following year in 1898.
In September 2016 Artangel opened Reading Prison to the public for the first time for an exhibition of art, writing and performance. Inside: Artists and Writers in Reading Prison. Everett's reading was on the final day of the exhibition.
For more information: artangel.org.uk/project/inside/

[@bevcd3625]

This has so much meaning for me. 😥 As my Dad lay dying in his bed as I was laying beside him, he was looking out the window at the beautiful day with tears rolling down his face. My mind kept saying over and over again “I never saw a man/my Daddy look so wistful at the day”. RIP Daddy and Oscar. 😥😥💔💔✌️

[@richardarnold3734]

I first heard this poem as a boy of 14. It took another 40 years before I really understood “for each man kills the thing he loves”.

[@kaankaral]

I still dont get it

[@rania7801]

@@kaankaral yes me either.

[@jonathanschreiber6053]

No idea what it means

[@clairelambe6699]

My understanding is that, in those three stanzas beginning "For each man kills the thing he loves," Wilde segues from the physical murder of the guardsman's love to the metaphysical killing of one's love through carelessness, callousness, or simply falling out of love, and breaking someone's heart - something each of us, at one time or another, may be guilty of. "The kindest use a knife/because the dead so soon grow cold," laments how, often, the end of a love affair is drawn out and the (now formerly) loved one tortured, and better to end the affair swiftly so that the heart-broken can move on (grow cold).

[@PedroCostaNeves67]

@@clairelambe6699 Thank you, I enjoyed reading your interpretation and I believe it to be right at the heart of this poem.

[@genetyburn951]

AMAZING THAT VERY FEW KNOW ,THAT THIS IS THE GREATEST POEM WRITTEN IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

[@apollonia6656]

I agree. This and " If " by Kipling.

[@senormorrissey]

By an Irishman in his occupying language.

[@fgiord8fgg]

​@Gene Tyburn :'ode to a nightingale' by John Keats. 'the second coming ' by William Butler Yeats. ' ode: intimations of immortality ' by William Wordsworth.

[@JoostJGJ]

Ulysses by Tennyson

[@mrs_mac9483]

I have listened to this so much over the past couple years. This is my favorite poem, the gentleman reading it does such a good job, and the video is almost exactly the length of my drive to work. I just wanted to thank the reader and whoever posted the video!

[@Paslayas]

The first work of O. Wilde I read was The Happy Prince. Since then, his words have captivated me♥️

[@CiceroLounge]

Absolutely beautifully read.

[@2010Wilde]

I was feeling so moved until that phone went off. I cracked up laughing at the way Rupert glares at the phone's owner.

[@Paslayas]

Yep. To disrupt this beautiful reading I would have kicked them out😒

[@sathapalani]

I first read this poem in an anthology of poems my late father had left me and was particularly moved by the verse where he talks about the how all men kill the things they love. Through the years I have seen time and again how true that observation was..

[@mythreyisankar8683]

Heart touching lines that makes one cry

[@ktcooki276]

Fantastic: ashamed to say this was my introduction to this masterpiece, as for some reason its always escaped my attention! *blush*. Great job. Thanks for uploading. (Was directed here from a readers comment on 'goodreads', BTW. X

[@bloodandwinearered]

Please read it yourself for the full appreciation. What a work of art!

[@beakycole9211]

Yeah..theres loads missing from this version...well read though..

[@damo87araimo]

the wild regrets and the bloody sweats, none knew so well as I, for he who lives more lives than one more deaths than one must die.

[@syahirahsazali7950]

such an amazing piece

[@Elizabethljd]

never thought I'd hear Prince Charming reciting Wilde

[@spawnofithao5218]

I love this poem.

[@SincereCharity]

When I 1st read this poem, it moved me to tears.

[@Bjj900]

Imagine Oscar Wilde was sent to this prison for being gay. A damp cold dangerous place. What a piece of art his torture produced. This place killed him, his health was never right after.

[@musiclover9361]

A masterpiece such as this needed somebody who could do it justice. Fine as Mr Everett's attempt was and doubtless heartfelt, he's not the one.

[@zero_bs_tolerance8646]

I have to agree. This poem needs a reader who can evoke sympathy and express the desperation that Mr. Wilde wrote of. This was a very pedestrian reading.

[@robertthomas4234]

If anyone's reading this, may I suggest Niall Tobín's reading. Being Irish etc. he recorded my favourite reading of this poem! Peace to all here.

[@sohara....]

Rupert Everett is quite a character! - as Oscar Wilde was - and he writes beautifully himself, and in a small way, (comparatively speaking), Rupert Everett has paid a price for coming out as gay. He reads clearly & with intensity. He knows of that thereof he speaks: as we all do. We have all looked wistfully at the day, we know what it is "to kill" with a look, or an exclusion, or a dampening remark. I'm happy to listen to Rupert, knowing he is a nan who seeks to be honest, to be true to himself, in all his vagaries, and insofar as one can. I would like to hear Niall Tóibín read the ballad; it's not on KZbin, but this is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4SQpZZ8YsaLqNk

[@handsomenumber1393]

Thank you Oscar. Well read Rupert (you stole the show in Napoleon).

[@mariamoraes2903]

Thank you🙏👏👏❤️

[@m.p.quilang3543]

Written by a genius

[@scottharrison812]

Moving. Thank you.

[@francescafioramonti5686]

Amazing!

[@patriciathewisher2315]

Was wonderful as Oscar in The Judas Kiss in a London theatre in March 2013. 16th March. Thx Rupert. XXX PS also enjoyed the many naked men onstage. RIP Oscar Fingal Flahertie Wills Wilde. A most beautiful Irish man. One of the very few.

[@kaitlyn9213]

Amazing

[@marion4549]

Brilliant!

[@englanglit]

I've fallen in love with your voice.

[@johnquinn6351]

How else without a broken heart would the good Lord inter in From Psalm 51

[@stevecox7075]

Devastating and brilliant!! :-(

[@gianluca2703]

why he left out the best parts????

[@realleon2328]

Yeah seriously, he plain skipped over several excellent stanzas.

[@nfileger9433]

Awesome!

[@stuartwilliams7912]

A Shropshire lad is worth a read a poem in a similar vein.

[@sathapalani]

We have similar taste… Houseman’s prose is sublime. My favorite is “to an Athlete dying young”

[@qfox16789]

Why wouldn’t he wear his Scarlett coat? Wouldn’t that be perfect to mask the blood and wine? Is that why he was caught? Wilde said ‘I couldn’t say ‘he did nit wear his azure coat for blood and wine are blue’ but what does the whole concept mean. He did not wear his coat as it was the same colour as the things on his hand (too matchy matchy?)

[@phantomstrangermedia]

Football Stat’66 The Murderer was in the Horse Guards - they wore a blue tunic, not red like the Infantry Guards Regiments. Wilde had already developed the scarlet...blood...wine imagery by the time someone pointed out his error. He preferred the poetic licence which had Christlike connotations to prosaic accuracy.

[@kieranharford8755]

he did not wear his scarlet coat, because although it would have masked the blood + wine, it was in the dry cleaners, to remove the traces of a previous crime

[@qfox16789]

Can someone explain to me what the first few lines mean? I know theres this whole thing about that his coat was blue and wilde said he couldn’t say ‘He did not wear his azure coat for blood and wine are blue’. But take that out and think about the scarlett coat. Why does the fact that blood and wine is red mean that he didn’t wear his scarlet coat. Wouldn’t that be a good thing to wear to mask the blood and wine? Is the whole point that he wore something else so everyone saw the blood and wine?

[@clairelambe6699]

In the context of the artistic license that Wilde took regarding the color of the uniform, he didn't wear the Scarlett coat because the color was a reminder of the crime, of the blood and wine; the guardsman regrets the murder (and this was true for the guardsman for whom the poem is dedicated). This isn't a murder story where the murderer is trying to escape detection.

[@theart8039]

Really glad that Rupert didn't ham this up in any way..it must have been tempting

[@FoxFoxy]

А хороших переводов на русский как будто нет... То есть переводов много, в том числе очень известных поэтов, но всё, кажется, не то.

[@lesleymcshanemitchell9651]

Some saw Stars Some DSaw Bars And each Man his own Executionier Poignant words. As appropo today as lo these many years ago

[@pagetian981]

Why didn't have the reading of Ben Whishaw? Please!

[@bloodandwinearered]

Out of his mouth a red, red rose, out of his heart a white... ? This is an abridged version and I still think I narrate it far better.

[@diceyr6056]

bloodandwinearered Then do it. I’ll look forward to it.

[@beakycole9211]

😂😂😂 dick.

[@charliemijatovic8562]

Then my I suggest you record your narration so that we may decide for ourselves?

[@ismandar983]

Ugly reading not enough emotion boring not captivating same tone idk how someone can listen to this without getting bored ive been listening to poems in a while and in general poems needs more emotion and should be. Ore captivating

[@beanoankers9327]

What's going on here

[@babsclark8572]

sorry but I prefer Simon Cowells' Version.

[@pepefrogic3034]

This version is better, Cowell is too theatrical

[@apollonia6656]

This is a beautiful poem but could have been read better....maybe by Stephen Fry.

[@genetyburn951]

TAKE A LESTEN TO MY READING OF. EAST IS EAST..........TYBURN@KIPLING. THEN YOU'LL KNOW HOW THINGS SHOULD BE READ.

[@elizabethkeimach5452]

Brilliant!