The Crowing Cocks in Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Whiteley examines the crowing cocks in Oscar Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol." The tradition that the crowing of the cock marks the coming of the day goes back to ancient literature, dating at least to Lucian's Swift-of-Foot. Inspired by his time in prison following his conviction on May 25, 1895 for "acts of gross indecency," the poem records the last days a fellow-prisoner, Charles Thomas Woodridge, who was sentenced to death for the murder of his wife. The third part of Wilde's poem recounts the way in which this sentence hung not only over Woodridge but also took its toll on the wider prison population, who empathetically "feel another's guilt," anxiously awaiting the instant of execution. It is in this context that the image of the crowing cock is evoked