“Such a wistful eye” (studying English through poetry) －あんなに悩ましげな目で （詩で学ぶ英語）－

Poetry doesn’t translate well, and it’s one of the hardest things for students of a foreign language to get their heads around.  I know this from my own experience of studying Japanese.  My teacher encouraged me to read Japanese waka and haiku.  I found that they were full of unusual readings of kanji and non-standard uses of words.  This is very helpful in making the lines fit into a tight structure of syllables.  But it’s very confusing!

So whilst I don’t generally recommend poetry as a means of studying a language, there are some exceptions.  One of these is Oscar Wilde’s “The ballad of Rading Gaol”.  “Gaol”, by the way, is an old-fashioned spelling of “jail”, or prison.  Reading is a place.

This poem is more suitable for English study, partly because it has a clear narrative, and partly because the background story of how the poem was written is so fascinating.

Oscar Wilde was convicted of homosexual offenses and was sentenced to two years hard labour.  Whilst in jail he saw the execution of another prisoner, who was hanged for murdering his wife.  After being released from prison in 1897, Wilde wrote about the incident and how the prisoners felt.

It is a very long poem.  So I will print only a short extract, with an explanation of vocabulary at the end.  This is the opening of the poem... 

An extract from “The ballad of Reading Gaol” by Oscar Wilde (1897):

He did not wear his scarlet coat,
For blood and wine are red,
And blood and wine were on his hands
When they found him with the dead,
The poor dead woman whom he loved,
And murdered in her bed.

He walked amongst the trial men

In a suit of shabby grey;
A cricket cap was on his head,
And his step seemed light and gay;
But I never saw a man who looked
So wistfully at the day.

I never saw a man who looked

With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky,
And at every drifting cloud that went
With sails of silver by.

I walked, with other souls in pain,

Within another ring,
And was wondering if the man had done
A great or little thing,
When a voice behind me whispered low,
“That fellow’s got to swing.”

Poor Oscar was bankrupted by the trial and his imprisonment, and was forced to flee Britain to live in Paris after being released.  He wrote the poem in part because he was desperate to get some money.  Because of his disgrace, he didn’t attach his name to the poem until the seventh edition.  It was a success and sold well enough to allow him to survive on the royalties.  But he died only a few years after his release from prison at the young age of 46.

Now I can guess that 50 per cent of readers gave up reading as soon as they saw the word “poetry”.  Congratulations for making it all the way to the end!  You’re very smart. 

Vocabulary:

wistful – having a feeling of vague or regretful longing.  For example: When the divorced man met his ex-wife, he felt wistful.

to get one’s head around something – to understand something.  For example: I can’t get my head around this problem.

a syllable – the parts into which a word is naturally divided when it is pronounced.  “Di-ffi-cult” (difficult) is divided into three syllables.

fascinating – extremely interesting

an offense – a crime

an execution – the killing of a criminal as a punishment for their crime

scarlet – of a brilliant red colour

shabby – in poor condition due to long use or lack of care

gay – in this poem, the word means light-hearted.  That has become an old-fashioned use, and in modern English, it now usually means “homosexual”.

to swing – in this line, it means to be hanged.  When he is executed by hanging, his legs will swing in the air.

to be bankrupted – to run out of money so that you cannot pay your debts

to flee – to run away

disgrace – loss of reputation or respect as a result of a dishonourable action

royalties – money due to the author of a book or creator of an artwork when it is used, bought etc.