This highly structured but dark writing pattern resembled this prison life. Justice is a hidden theme in “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.” Some would say that this is the main reason why Wilde wrote this poem. Wilde was sent to prison according to the laws of men, in the name of justice. Yet men who lacked the moral sense of justice were charged with serving his sentence. This tone of resentment is very apparent in the poem: For the sinister Justice of man follows its path And does not depart: It kills the weak, it kills the