Oscar Wilde came from the Victorian generation, a group of writers known for their dogma and oppression. In many of his works he negates these austere ideas with his own humor; however, Alas! and The Ballad of Reading Gaol are different. Unlike most of Oscar Wilde's irreverent output as a playwright or composer of witticisms, poems like Alas! and The Ballad of Reading Gaol take a moralistic turn, challenging conventional notions of morality. Most of his works are light and satirical in nature, but these two poems confront the morality of human actions. Sometimes they do it in a very paradoxical way. Perhaps for this reason it may be much easier to put these two poems into the Victorian canon, as they are much more representative of that era.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Alas! is a poem by Oscar Wilde that deals with the idea of ​​discontent and decadence. It questions the foundations of human actions and concludes that for very few pleasures, we lose our grip on the greater truth of life. He says he succumbed to passion so often that his soul became like a “stringed lute.” This line marks the beginning of a contemplative narrative that questions human nature as well as the human tendency to sacrifice morality for petty passions. In this poem, there is a clear binary between morality and passions, and these two ideas are presented as being antithetical to each other. In the following lines, the poet echoes a distinct feeling that is not found very often in his works. Drifting with all the passions until my soul is a stringed lute upon which all the winds can play, is this why I have abandoned my ancient wisdom. , and austere control? It seems to me that my life is a parchment written twice Scribbled during a boy's vacation. The poet intends to show remorse, but the only crime he seems to have committed is indulging in "small passions." Interestingly, he seems to present himself as a senseless criminal in this poem, when the narrative clearly suggests otherwise, for in The Ballad of The Reading Gaol he depicts a contrasting idea of ​​morality. In this poem, morality is as it is conventionally perceived by society; in The Ballad of Reading Gaol, the poet seems to challenge this same restricted idea of ​​morality. The Ballad of Reading Gaol is another important work of Oscar Wilde which is elegiac in nature. This poem mourns the death of an inmate Wilde during his time in prison and condemns the humiliation the inmate was forced to endure. A very recurring feeling in this poem is manifested in the following lines. Yet each kills what he loves By each makes this understood, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword! The poet wants to make the reader understand that the inmate is not really a criminal, if we want to see things differently. He points out the morality of putting an "innocent" man in prison, but in the context of this poem, morality seems to be something else entirely. In fact, it's quite contrary to the idea of ​​morality described in Alas! Here, the poet rejects the conventional idea of ​​morality and adopts a new morality, implying that the inmate was innocent because "everyone kills what he loves." He denounces the hypocrisy of society which condemns such a man to death. Here, morality would consist of forgiving man because his.