Although Victorian-era English author Thomas Hardy was best known for novels like Far From the Madding Crowd, he wrote countless poems which are well-respected and still read throughout the world to this day.
Among his most famous poems is "The Ruined Maid," written in the late 1800s but published in 1901. Critics have hailed the poem as one of Hardy's most complex and vital. The poem is still relevant to this day. In 1981, it was adapted into an operatic "skit" 1981 and remained on the curriculum in many schools to this day.
"The Ruined Maid" is a work of satire. It tells the story of a young woman who decides to lose her virginity in a time when women losing their virginity before marriage was frowned upon. The poem is depicted as a conversation between the woman and someone else, who make fun of the absurdity of cultural notions.
