What is this verse from?

[Dark Muse]

I read these lines in The Jungle by Uption Sinclair but it did not state who the poet was or what the poem was called.

The vilest deeds, like poison weeds,
Bloom well in prison air;
It is only what is good in Man
That wastes and withers there;
Pale Anguish keeps the heavy gate.
And the Warder is Despair

and I am not sure if this is suppose to be part of the same poem or not:

I know not weather Laws be right,
or weather Laws be wrong;

All that we know who lie in goal
Is that the wall is strong.
And they do well to hide thier hell,
For in it things are done
That Son of God nor son of Man
Ever should look upon!

[Scheherazade]

From "Ballad of Reading Gaol" by Oscar Wilde.

[Silas Thorne]

Oscar Wilde 'The ballad of reading gaol'... I think you might like it. ;)

sorry took too long :)

[Dark Muse]

Oh thank you

[Silas Thorne]

....but these are not the best lines in it, I think

[Scheherazade]

Oscar Wilde 'The ballad of reading gaol'... I think you might like it. ;)

sorry took too long :)Beat ya! :D

[LitNetIsGreat]

Wilde supposedly took the verse form from Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner drawing from the pathos of that well know ballad. I read that he chose Coleridge’s Mariner for on purpose for that reason but I have not confirmed this from his letters as yet.

Critically it is regarded as Wilde’s finest poem with much of his earlier stuff discounted as weak by the majority of critical opinion. W. B. Yeats also adds Requiescat as a strong piece by Wilde which he wrote when he was very young.

Many critics point to the Ballad of Reading Gaol as Wilde’s best poem solely due to his prison experience but they often seem to fail to recognise Wilde's natural progression as a writer. Much of his earlier work is quite weak. His first two plays are not up to that much as well. It is my opinion that Wilde could have wrote some good, or very good poetry along BRG if he had chosen to after he had matured as a writer. But of that we will never know for sure.

[NovemberGuest]

an excellent Wilde poem...almost sounds like it should be put to music :)