BA #3

B. "The Ruined Maid" by Thomas Hardy can be found on page 63.

-"You left us in tatters, without shoes or socks,
Tired of digging potatoes, and spudding up docks;
And now you've gay bracelets and bright feathers three!"-
"Yes: that's how we dress when we're ruined," said she. (5-8)

In Hardy's poem, there are two women speaking to each other. The first woman's persona is of a towns woman who is living the life of a typical lower middle class person. The second woman's persona is a woman who has turned to prostitution. As this passage shows, the prostitute was once like the first woman. She used to be poor and dirty looking, but now she has "gay bracelets and bright feathers three!"("The Ruined Maid" 7). The prostitute's tone in this poem is of someone who is proud to be living that life. She is content in that she has such fine material things, never mind the fact that she's giving away her body to men for money. What we question in this poem, and what I would ask to other students is whether or not the prostitute is happy? The rhyme scheme that the poet uses is:a a b b c c d d e e f f g g. The poem has more lines than that, but that is the general rhyme scheme. This poem contains four lines per stanza and the two women converse in each stanza.