"on Thursdays and The ""Reading Post"" published on Wednesday and Fridays. A local publishing company, the Two Rivers Press, has published over 70 book titles, many on the topic of local history and art. Three local radio stations broadcast from Reading: BBC Radio Berkshire, Reading 107 FM and Heart Berkshire. Other local radio stations, such as London's 95.8 Capital FM, Basingstoke's 107.6 Kestrel FM and Slough's Star 106.6 can also be received. Local television news programmes are the BBC's South Today and ITV's Meridian Tonight. Reading's best known literary connection is with Oscar Wilde, who was imprisoned in Reading Gaol"
"His discussion of the dismissal of Warder Martin for giving biscuits to an anaemic child prisoner, repeated the themes of the corruption and degeneration of punishment that he had earlier outlined in ""The Soul of Man under Socialism"". Wilde spent mid-1897 with Robert Ross in the seaside village of Berneval-le-Grand in northern France, where he wrote ""The Ballad of Reading Gaol"", narrating the execution of Charles Thomas Wooldridge, who murdered his wife in a rage at her infidelity. It moves from an objective story-telling to symbolic identification with the prisoners. No attempt is made to assess the justice of the"
"from 1895 to 1897. While he was there, he wrote ""De Profundis"", which was published in 1905. After his release, he lived in exile in France and wrote ""The Ballad of Reading Gaol"", based on his experience of an execution carried out in Reading Gaol whilst he was imprisoned there. It was first published in 1898 under the pseudonym C.3.3, Wilde's erstwhile cell number. Other authors lived in and around Reading. Jane Austen attended Reading Ladies Boarding School, based in the Abbey Gateway, in 1784–86. Mary Russell Mitford lived in Reading for a number of years and then spent the"
"the 19th century was French Symbolism. This movement inevitably influenced Irish writers, not least Oscar Wilde (1845–1900). Although Wilde is best known for his plays, fiction, and ""The Ballad of Reading Gaol"", he also wrote poetry in a symbolist vein and was the first Irish writer to experiment with prose poetry. However, the overtly cosmopolitan Wilde was not to have much influence on the future course of Irish writing. W. B. Yeats was much more influential in the long run. Yeats, too, was influenced by his French contemporaries but consciously focused on an identifiably Irish content. As such, he was"
"number, C33, as a way of symbolically linking his fate to theirs, to read out aloud Wilde's poem ""The Ballad of Reading Gaol"". Hirschfeld found the reading of ""The Ballad of Reading Gaol"" to be """"markerschütternd"""" (shaken to the core of one's being, i.e. something that is emotionally devastating), going on to write that the poem reading was ""the most earth-shattering outcry that has ever been voiced by a downtrodden soul about its own torture and that of humanity"". By the end of the reading of ""The Ballad of Reading Gaol"", Hirshfeld felt ""quiet joy"" as he was convinced that,"
"Ballad of Reading Gaol"". Wooldridge, known as ""C.T.W"" in the poem, was a trooper serving with the Royal Horse Guards in Windsor who had killed his wife Laura with a cut-throat razor during a fit of jealous rage. Wilde recounts that the condemned man seemed resigned to his fate on the gallows, and Wooldridge even petitioned the Home Secretary requesting that he not be reprieved, despite a plea for clemency submitted by the jury at his trial and various petitions organised by the residents of Berkshire. He told the prison chaplain that he wanted to die in payment for his"
"Charles de Gaulle (poet) Charles Jules-Joseph de Gaulle (January 31, 1837 – January 1, 1880) was a French writer who was a pioneer of Pan-Celticism and the bardic revival. He is also known as Charlez Vro-C'hall, the Breton language version of his name. He was the uncle of General de Gaulle. Born in Valenciennes, Nord, de Gaulle was struck by a progressive paralyzing illness from his early youth. He turned to scholarship and began a study the Celtic languages after reading ""Barzaz Breiz"" (Ballads of Brittany) at the age of sixteen. He learned Breton, Welsh and Gaelic, but never visited"
"The Ballad of East and West ""The Ballad of East and West"" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in 1889, and has been much collected and anthologised since. Kamal, a tribal chieftain in the North-West Frontier (then on the boundary of the British Raj, nowadays in Pakistan), steals the British Colonel's prize mare. The Colonel's son, who commands a troop of the Guides, asks if any of his men know where Kamal might be. One does, and tells him, and warns him of the dangers of entering Kamal's territory guarded by tribesmen concealed among the rocks"
"Gʻafur Gʻulom Gʻafur Gʻulom or Gafur Gulom (Russified form Gafur Gulyam) () (May 10, 1903 – July 10, 1966) was an Uzbek poet, writer, and literary translator. He is best remembered for his stories ""Shum Bola"" (""The Mischievous Boy"") (adapted for film in 1977) and ""Yodgor"". Gʻafur Gʻulom is also known for translating the works of many influential foreign authors, such as Alexander Pushkin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and William Shakespeare. He translated ""Le Mariage de Figaro"" of Pierre Beaumarchais, ""Othello"" of William Shakespeare, and ""Gulistan"" of Saadi Shirazi into Uzbek. Gʻafur Gʻulom is considered to be one of the most influential"
"first hanging at Reading in 18 years. From Wooldridge's hanging, Wilde later wrote ""The Ballad of Reading Gaol"". Wilde was not, at first, even allowed paper and pen but Haldane eventually succeeded in allowing access to books and writing materials. Wilde requested, among others: the Bible in French; Italian and German grammars; some Ancient Greek texts, Dante's ""Divine Comedy"", Joris-Karl Huysmans's new French novel about Christian redemption ""En Route"", and essays by St Augustine, Cardinal Newman and Walter Pater. Between January and March 1897 Wilde wrote a 50,000-word letter to Douglas. He was not allowed to send it, but was"
"Gabriel's Wing Bal-e-Jibril (; or Gabriel's Wing; published in Urdu, 1935) was a philosophical poetry book of Allama Iqbal, the great South Asian poet-philosopher, and the national poet of Pakistan. Iqbal's first book of poetry in Urdu, ""Bang-i-Dara"" (1924), was followed by ""Bal-i-Jibril"" in 1935 and ""Zarb-i-Kalim"" in 1936. Bal-i-Jibril is the peak of Iqbal's Urdu poetry. It consists of ghazals, poems, quatrains, epigrams and displays the vision and intellect necessary to foster sincerity and firm belief in the heart of the ummah and turn its members into true believers. Some of the verses had been written when Iqbal visited"
"a traditional driving rhythm. Such echoes are to be heard throughout the poem: there is a couplet that is repeated with slight variations several times: T. S. Eliot included the poem in his 1941 collection ""A Choice of Kipling's Verse"". The Ballad of East and West ""The Ballad of East and West"" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in 1889, and has been much collected and anthologised since. Kamal, a tribal chieftain in the North-West Frontier (then on the boundary of the British Raj, nowadays in Pakistan), steals the British Colonel's prize mare. The Colonel's son,"
"Barrack-Room Ballads The Barrack-Room Ballads are a series of songs and poems by Rudyard Kipling, dealing with the late-Victorian British Army and mostly written in a vernacular dialect. The series contains some of Kipling's most well-known work, including the poems ""Gunga Din"", ""Tommy"", ""Mandalay"", and ""Danny Deever"", helping consolidate his early fame as a poet. The first poems were published in the ""Scots Observer"" in the first half of 1890, and collected in ""Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses"" in 1892. Kipling later returned to the theme in a group of poems collected in ""The Seven Seas"" under the same title."
"Nalapat Narayana Menon Nalapat Narayana Menon (October 7, 1887 – October 31, 1954) was a Malayalam language author from Kerala state, South India. His oeuvre consists of poems, plays and translations. His best known works include ""Paavangal"", a translation of Victor Hugo's ""Les Misérables"", and the elegy ""Kannuneerthulli"". He was born in Punnayurkulam, Ponnani taluk in South Malabar on 7 October 1887. He obtained English education from Kunnamkulam, Trichur and Calicut. While he was 18, he met poet Vallathol and became his chief companion. Vallathol's influence is obvious in his early poems. He was also influenced by Robert G. Ingersoll"
"Gagan mein thaal Gagan mein thaal is an Aarti (prayer) in Sikh religion which was recited by first guru, Guru Nanak. This was recited by him in 1506 or 1508 at the revered Jagannath Temple, Puri during his journey (called ""udaasi"") to east India. This arti is sung (not performed with platter & lamps etc.) daily after recitation of Rehraas Sahib & Ardās at the Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar. Famous saint poet of India Rabindranath Tagore was once asked by Balraj Sahni, who used to teach at Santiniketan then, that the way he has written the National Anthem of India, why"
"Following the Spread Eagle, Fothergill managed the Royal Ascot Hotel and the Three Swans at Market Harborough. He gravitated around the Bright Young Things group, in the meaning that this crowd attended the venues managed by Fothergill. He was praised for his cooking and innkeeping skills that helped to improve overall dining standards in Britain. Fothergill was a close friend of Robbie Ross and Reginald Turner, and met Oscar Wilde aged 19. Wilde grew fond of him, and presented Fothergill with an inscribed copy of ""The Ballad of Reading Gaol"", following Wilde's release from prison in 1897. John Fothergill (innkeeper)"
"use of the poem led to a severe adverse reaction from his audience who drowned out much of the rest of his speech. He was later accused of double standards, having recently spoken in Canada in support of a ""free"" Quebec, because its French language tradition distinguished it from the English-dominated majority of Canada. Charles de Gaulle (poet) Charles Jules-Joseph de Gaulle (January 31, 1837 – January 1, 1880) was a French writer who was a pioneer of Pan-Celticism and the bardic revival. He is also known as Charlez Vro-C'hall, the Breton language version of his name. He was the"
"an opera libretto based on the writings of Oscar Wilde and his contemporaries, with Walt Whitman serving as a chorus speaking from the realm of immortality. The opera used Wilde's poem ""The Ballad of Reading Gaol"", documents, letters, conversations and remarks by Wilde's contemporaries as source material for the libretto. Cox also consulted Merlin Holland, the grandson of Oscar Wilde and a scholar on Oscar Wilde. ""Prologue: In the regions of Immortality"" Walt Whitman introduces himself. He tells of meeting Oscar Wilde in the 1880s when Wilde was lecturing across America. He then describes what happens to Wilde in the"
"The Ballad of the White Horse The Ballad of the White Horse is a poem by G. K. Chesterton about the idealised exploits of the Saxon King Alfred the Great, published in 1911. Written in ballad form, the work has been described as one of the last great traditional epic poems ever written in the English language. The poem narrates how Alfred was able to defeat the invading Danes at the Battle of Ethandun under the auspices of God working through the agency of the Virgin Mary. In addition to being a narration of Alfred's military and political accomplishments, it"
"The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins ""The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"" is a song composed by Charles Randolph Grean and performed by Leonard Nimoy, telling the story of Bilbo Baggins and his adventures in J. R. R. Tolkien's novel ""The Hobbit"". The recording was featured on ""Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy,"" the second of Nimoy's albums on Dot Records. It was also released as a single (Dot Records Cat. #45-17028) in July 1967, backed with a ""modern thought-image"" folk song called ""Cotton Candy"". When the single was originally released, Nimoy lip-synched to the recording during a guest appearance on the July"
"Casey at the Bat ""Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888"" is a baseball poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. First published in ""The San Francisco Examiner"" (then called ""The Daily Examiner"") on June 3, 1888, it was later popularized by DeWolf Hopper in many vaudeville performances. It has become one of the best-known poems in American literature. The poem was originally published anonymously (under the pen name ""Phin"", based on Thayer's college nickname, ""Phinney""). A baseball team from the fictional town of ""Mudville"" (implied to be the home team) is losing"
"Indian iconic personalities such as ""Rama Tirtha"", ""Guru Nanak"" and ""Rama"". The Urdu poetry Iqbal wrote earlier to his visit of Europe in 1905, is considered by critics as the first phase of his poetry that reflects the blend of Persian mysticism and Patriotism. Iqbals Urdu poetry collection is available in four books. Works of Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal also known as Allama Iqbal (1877–1938), was a Muslim philosopher, poet and politician of early 20th-century. He is particularly known in Indian sub-continent for his Urdu philosophical poetry. Iqbal became prominence since 1899, when he recited ""Nalay e Yatem"" at the"
"Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel ""The Picture of Dorian Gray"", and the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death. Wilde's parents were successful Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. Their son became fluent in French and German early in life. At university, Wilde read Greats; he proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at"
"The Giaour The Giaour is a poem by Lord Byron first published in 1813 by John Murray and printed by Thomas Davison was the first in the series of his Oriental romances. ""The Giaour"" proved to be a great success when published, consolidating Byron's reputation critically and commercially. Byron was inspired to write the poem during his Grand Tour during 1810 and 1811, which he undertook with his friend John Cam Hobhouse. While in Athens, he became aware of the Turkish custom of throwing a woman found guilty of adultery into the sea wrapped in a sack. ""Giaour"" (Turkish: ""Gâvur"")"
"of the City of Mahagonny"". Mandalay (poem) ""Mandalay"" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, written and published in 1890, and first collected in ""Barrack-Room Ballads, and Other Verses"" in 1892. The poem is set in colonial Burma, then part of British India. The protagonist is a Cockney working-class soldier, back in grey restrictive London, recalling the time he felt free and had a Burmese girlfriend, now unattainably far away. The poem became well known, especially after it was set to music by Oley Speaks in 1907, and was admired by Kipling's contemporaries, though some of them objected to its muddled"
"the most celebrated Australian writer of the time, Lawson was deeply depressed and perpetually poor. He lacked money due to unfortunate royalty deals with publishers. His ex-wife repeatedly reported him for non-payment of child maintenance, resulting in gaol terms. He was gaoled at Darlinghurst Gaol for drunkenness and non-payment of child support, and recorded his experience in the haunting poem ""One Hundred and Three"" - his prison number - which was published in 1908. He refers to the prison as ""Starvinghurst Gaol"" because of the meagre rations given to the inmates. At this time, Lawson became withdrawn, alcoholic, and unable"
"Danny Deever ""Danny Deever"" is an 1890 poem by Rudyard Kipling, one of the first of the Barrack-Room Ballads. It received wide critical and popular acclaim, and is often regarded as one of the most significant pieces of Kipling's early verse. The poem, a ballad, describes the execution of a British soldier in India for murder. His execution is viewed by his regiment, paraded to watch it, and the poem is composed of the comments they exchange as they see him hanged. The poem was first published on 22 February 1890 in the ""Scots Observer"", in America later in the"
"Alaol Syed Alaol (; 1607 – 1673) was a poet in Bengal during the medieval age. He was probably born in 1607 in Jalalpur village in Fatwabad Pargana of Faridpur District of Bangladesh. His father was a minister of Majlis Qutb, the ruler of Fatwabad (near Faridpur, Bangladesh). His most well known work is ""Padmavati"", which depicts the story of Padmavati, the Sinhala princess and the queen of Chittor. He is considered to be one of the most prolific medieval Bengali poets. Since most of his poems combine emotion with intellect, he is called the ""Pandit Kabi"" or 'Wise Poet'"
"Oread (poem) ""Oread"" is a poem by Hilda Doolittle, originally published under the name H. D. Imagiste. ""Oread"", one of her earliest and best-known poems, which was first published in the founding issue of ""BLAST"" on 20 June 1914, serves to illustrate this early style well. The title ""Oread"" (""cf."" Oread) was added after the poem was first written, to suggest that a nymph was ordering up the sea. ""Oread"" may serve to illustrate some prominent features of Imagist poetry. Rejecting the rhetorics of Late Romanticism and Victorianism, the Imagists aimed at a renewal of language through extreme reduction. This"
"but Wilde would observe the condemned man during silent exercise periods in the prison yard, known as the 'Fools' Parade'. The execution of Wooldridge (known as ""C.T.W"" in the poem) had a profound effect on Wilde, inspiring the line in the Ballad ""Yet each man kills the thing he loves"". Wilde was mistaken in his belief that Wooldridge killed his wife in her home, contemporary reports stating that the murder was committed in the street. Charles Thomas Wooldridge Charles Thomas Wooldridge (c.1866 – 7 July 1896) was a Trooper in the Royal Horse Guards who was executed in Reading Gaol"
"Sir Galahad (poem) ""Sir Galahad"" is a poem written by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, and published in his 1842 collection of poetry. It is one of his many poems that deal with the legend of King Arthur, and describes Galahad experiencing a vision of the Holy Grail. The subject of the poem was later included in ""The Holy Grail"" section of Tennyson's ""Idylls of the King"", but the latter version depicts Galahad as a pious individual who is grimly determined to fulfill his destiny. ""Sir Galahad"", in contrast, depicts Galahad as prideful, and has almost cheerful undertones. In 1833,"
"The Lady of Shalott ""The Lady of Shalott"" is a lyrical ballad by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892). It tells the story of a young noble woman imprisoned in a tower on an island near Camelot. She can only watch the outside world through a mirror and must weave what she sees. She has heard that if she looks at Camelot directly, she will be cursed. One of the poet's best-known works, its vivid medieval romanticism and enigmatic symbolism inspired many painters, especially the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers. Like his other early poems – ""Sir Lancelot and Queen"
"books such as ""Neermathalam Pootha Kaalam"". ""Lokantharangalil"" was an elegy by Balamani Amma on the death of Nalapat Narayana Menon. Nalapat Narayana Menon Nalapat Narayana Menon (October 7, 1887 – October 31, 1954) was a Malayalam language author from Kerala state, South India. His oeuvre consists of poems, plays and translations. His best known works include ""Paavangal"", a translation of Victor Hugo's ""Les Misérables"", and the elegy ""Kannuneerthulli"". He was born in Punnayurkulam, Ponnani taluk in South Malabar on 7 October 1887. He obtained English education from Kunnamkulam, Trichur and Calicut. While he was 18, he met poet Vallathol and"