Read the excerpt from "The Ballad of Reading Gaol [Jail]” by Oscar Wilde.the very prison wallsSuddenly seemed to reel,And the sky above my head becameLike a casque [helmet] of scorching steel

The prison walls seem to “reel,” as if the speaker’s surroundings are spinning, and the sky feels like scorching steel. These intense, disorienting images suggest the speaker feels panicked and overwhelmed, rather than calm or merely lonely.

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