The Ruined Maid

The Ruined Maid
by Thomas Hardy

"O 'Melia, my dear, this does everything crown!
Who could have supposed I should meet you in Town?
And whence such fair garments, such prosperi-ty?"--
"O didn't you know I'd been ruined?" said she.

--"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.

--"At home in the barton you said 'thee' and 'thou,'
And 'thik oon,' and 'theäs oon,' and 't'other'; but now
Your talking quite fits 'ee for high compa-ny!"--
"Some polish is gained with one's ruin," said she.

--"Your hands were like paws then, your face blue and bleak
But now I'm bewitched by your delicate cheek,
And your little gloves fit as on any la-dy!"--
"We never do work when we're ruined," said she.

--"You used to call home-life a hag-ridden dream,
And you'd sigh, and you'd sock; but at present you seem
To know not of megrims or melancho-ly!"--
"True. One's pretty lively when ruined," said she.

"--I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown,
And a delicate face, and could strut about Town!"--
"My dear--a raw country girl, such as you be,
Cannot quite expect that. You ain't ruined," said she.

Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. He was born in June 2nd, 1840. His typically works belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literatre, such as his fascination with the supernatural. Hardy’s poetry first published in his fifties, has come to be as well regarded as his novels and has had a significant influence over modern English poetry, especially after The Movement poets of the 1950’s and 1960’s cited Hardy as a major figure.

The ruined maid tells us about a girl named Melia who become a beautiful woman. Her friends met her in the Town with her different appearance before. Ruin means completely spoil or destroy and maid is a female servant. So, from the title The Ruined Maid means a female servant who was completely destroyed.

After read this poem for several times, I finally found the poem’s basic situation. This poem is taken place in Town where her friends and Melia met. They asked about the garments and prosperity or changes that Melia has got. Although she has got everything but actually she did not has anything. Her friends also asked her for many times about her significant changes. And Melia tried to convince them with the same statement that she has been ruined.

In the fourth stanza which says “your hands were like paws then, your face blue and bleak but now I’m bewitched by your delicate cheek.” Base on that part, we can see the author’s attitude toward Melia which is an ironic. She has earned loads of fortune and become rich. However she earned all of her worthiness by scarifying and “selling herself”.

The type of this poem is descriptive which describe people or experience, scenes or object. It shows on the words that the authors chose to emphasize Melia’s condition. Then, the author used comparison to build his perspective which shows two different conditions of Melia. And from the diction that the author used, the readers can see who was Melia and who is she now.

The Ruined Maid is one of Hardy’s works. He wrote this poem at Westbourne Park Villas on 1866. This poem is quiet interesting. It illustrates a condition of two or some women in the same village who faced hard situation in their life. We can say that they are the member of the working class social group that exploited by the wealthy power people. They lived on poverty and misery. One of them named Melia tried to escape from the misery to the Town which means city as a promise place to live. And she finally found it, but poorly in the wrong way. In addition, Thomas Hardy is also known as an author of fascination with supernatural typically works. And this poem convinces us that Melia’s condition is also happen in our era. Everyone wants to get everything that they want but many people make it in the wrong way.

This poem consists of simile as the sense device. Simile is a direct comparison of an object which shows in the fourth stanza and recognized by the use of the words like and as. “And your little gloves fit as on any la-dy!” It enables us to imagine how Melia’s condition was. There is also alliteration as the same sound device which is the repetition of the same sound at frequent interval. For example, “You left us in tatters, without shoes and socks”. The soft “s” and hard “k” sounds add to the verbal description of the small and dirty she was. Then, it has rhyme. Rhyme is usually occurs at line endings in poetry and consists of words which have the same sound letters preceding the vowel, must, however, be unlike in sound.

The Ruined Maid is like an example for us that every success needs sacrifice, but we have to consider all the risks and do not trap in the wrong way like Melia did, which is already ruined. It is also contributes very good lesson like if someone’s ruined won’t be able to turn back time. And I really like this poem and the creativity of Hardy. He manages to make a life of sin seem more attractive than one of virtue.

Sources:
http://www.poetry-online.org/hardy_the_ruined_maid.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy
Poetry and Prose Appreciation for Overseas Students by L.G. Alexander