Guillermo Valencia of Chinese poems. He translated La balada de la cárcel de Reading (1932; “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”) from the English poem by the 19th-century writer Oscar Wilde. He also turned more frequently to writing essays, many of which are collected in Panegíricos, discursos y artículos (1933; “Panegyrics, Speeches, and Articles”). Guillermo Valencia Guillermo Valencia Castillo (October 29, 1873 in Popayán, Colombia – July 8, 1943 in Popayán) was a Colombian poet and translator. He was the father of Guillermo León Valencia (1909-1971), Colombian president during 1962-1966. His first volume of poetry, Ritos (1898, rev. ed. 1914; “Rites”), containing original
The Ballad of Reading Gaol after the first edition went on sale. For example, in the first edition a line read "And his step was light", and in the second edition it becomes "And his step seemed light". These tiny alterations persisted through the seventh edition, the last edition handled by Smithers, and thereafter to most of the reprints. Since Smithers had the printers retain the plates from the first edition, it seems plausible that these were deliberate revisions done at Wilde's request. Wilde did acknowledge (evidently to several people, since numerous separate sources recalled this) a glaring error in the very first line of