How long does it take to read The Ballad of Reading Gaol?
The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde takes about 53 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 53 minutes
An evening's read
First published 1896. 48 pages, about 13,200 words.
2 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 1 hour 28 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 53 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 33 minutes |
The page count is the median across 241 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile in Berneval-le-Grand and Naples, after his release from HM Prison Reading on 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading after being convicted of gross indecency with other men in 1895 and sentenced to two years' hard labour in prison.
Subjects: Fiction, general, English poetry, Poetry (poetic works by one author), Fiction, Prisoners, Poetry
