Wilde Words

Saw a staged version of the Picture of Dorian Gray at The Wolsey theatre, which was very well done. Still trying to decide what story to record next so, to get back in the habit of podcasting, I decided to do some of Oscar Wilde's poems.
The first poem is the relatively short The Harlot's House,a beautifully rhythmic piece which was done (far better) by Vincent Price as part of one of his touring plays several decades ago. For those listeners who have the patience for long poems, the second piece is the obligatory Ballad of Reading Gaol which Wilde wrote in the late 1800s to make readers understand how awful his prison experience was and how dreadful execution was. whilst in prison Wilde rediscovered his Christian faith, though his approach to Christ was decidedly more Hellenised than most people's. His spirituality infuses the poem, and observant listeners will note certain phrases that both poems have in common - it could just be that Wilde liked certain words and reused them but I also suspect that it is because his own experiences in the houses of harlots (of the molly variety) were largely responsible for landing him in a cell. The horrible marionettes that resemble live things had finally brought him to the lowest point in his life - as embodied by the fate of Dorian Gray.