2020 Selected Poems – George Crabbe,
Robert Browning and Oscar Wilde ‘In these
poems, physical cruelty is presented as the
worst crime of all.ʼ To what extent do you agree
with this view? [25 Marks]
2020
Selected Poems – George Crabbe, Robert Browning and Oscar Wilde ‘In these poems, physical
cruelty is presented as the worst crime of all.ʼ To what extent do you agree with this view?
Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed exploration of the poetsʼ authorial
methods. You should refer to the work of at least two authors in your answer. [25 marks]
Wildeʼs depiction of the physical cruelty against prisoners being the biggest crime – not
the victims.
Crimes of society.
Peter Grimeʼs violence against the boys.
Lack of guilt and sympathy being the biggest crime in Browningʼs poetry.
Throughout centuries, crime fiction has allowed critics to explore the portrayal of various crimes
committed questioning which ones may be deemed worse than others, or if all crimes
regardless of motive or consequence are equal in horror. In the poetry collection we are
presented with similar crimes of violence through the physical cruelty of murder occurring in
each poem whether it predates it or is upcoming. However, the crimes of murder may not be
seen as the only crimes in the poetry. The authors also allow a fascinating exploration of lack of
remorse, guilt, and even societies own complicity in certain crimes. In this essay I will therefore
discuss the extent to which ‘physical cruelty is presented as the worst crime of allʼ.
In the ‘Ballad of Reading Gaolʼ, Wilde removes the plot spurring crime of Laura Ellen Woolridge,
who was murdered on a street corner with a razor blade in an act of physical cruelty, replacing it
with the crimes committed against Woolridge before and after his death which is reflected on all
the other prisoners also. Through this, Wilde represents the injustice of justice by negating the
position of the victim to just being the “poor dead woman” who was “murdered in her bed”, like
Desdemona, to Woolridge whose physical cruelty is described on a much more permeable
deeper level. The long ended enduring descriptions of how the “tarry rope (was torn) to shreds”
“with blunt and bleeding nails”, alongside how the men “rubbed the doors, and scrubbed the
floors and cleaned the shining rails” presents the immense harsh cruelties experienced by
them. The cutting ‘bʼ plosive and cold ‘edʼ sounds creates an excruciated effect on the reader,
alongside the repeated onomatopoeic ‘ailʼ sounds which act as a homophone to the similar
word ‘wailʼ suggesting that these are in fact the noises within the prison. The descriptions of
this suffering due to the physical cruelty of the prisoners punishment creates the long-standing
Robert Browning and Oscar Wilde ‘In these
poems, physical cruelty is presented as the
worst crime of all.ʼ To what extent do you agree
with this view? [25 Marks]
2020
Selected Poems – George Crabbe, Robert Browning and Oscar Wilde ‘In these poems, physical
cruelty is presented as the worst crime of all.ʼ To what extent do you agree with this view?
Remember to include in your answer relevant detailed exploration of the poetsʼ authorial
methods. You should refer to the work of at least two authors in your answer. [25 marks]
Wildeʼs depiction of the physical cruelty against prisoners being the biggest crime – not
the victims.
Crimes of society.
Peter Grimeʼs violence against the boys.
Lack of guilt and sympathy being the biggest crime in Browningʼs poetry.
Throughout centuries, crime fiction has allowed critics to explore the portrayal of various crimes
committed questioning which ones may be deemed worse than others, or if all crimes
regardless of motive or consequence are equal in horror. In the poetry collection we are
presented with similar crimes of violence through the physical cruelty of murder occurring in
each poem whether it predates it or is upcoming. However, the crimes of murder may not be
seen as the only crimes in the poetry. The authors also allow a fascinating exploration of lack of
remorse, guilt, and even societies own complicity in certain crimes. In this essay I will therefore
discuss the extent to which ‘physical cruelty is presented as the worst crime of allʼ.
In the ‘Ballad of Reading Gaolʼ, Wilde removes the plot spurring crime of Laura Ellen Woolridge,
who was murdered on a street corner with a razor blade in an act of physical cruelty, replacing it
with the crimes committed against Woolridge before and after his death which is reflected on all
the other prisoners also. Through this, Wilde represents the injustice of justice by negating the
position of the victim to just being the “poor dead woman” who was “murdered in her bed”, like
Desdemona, to Woolridge whose physical cruelty is described on a much more permeable
deeper level. The long ended enduring descriptions of how the “tarry rope (was torn) to shreds”
“with blunt and bleeding nails”, alongside how the men “rubbed the doors, and scrubbed the
floors and cleaned the shining rails” presents the immense harsh cruelties experienced by
them. The cutting ‘bʼ plosive and cold ‘edʼ sounds creates an excruciated effect on the reader,
alongside the repeated onomatopoeic ‘ailʼ sounds which act as a homophone to the similar
word ‘wailʼ suggesting that these are in fact the noises within the prison. The descriptions of
this suffering due to the physical cruelty of the prisoners punishment creates the long-standing
