SOURCE: Wilson, Keith. “Thomas Hardy's ‘The Ruined Maid,’ Elsa Lanchester's Music Hall, and the Fall into Fashion.” Thomas Hardy Journal 15, no. 2 (May 1999): 41-8.
In the following essay, Wilson asserts Hardy's poem was adapted from a popular music-hall song. Wilson examines how these works, along with works like Tess of the d'Urbervilles, characterize compromised women and use of fashion in making statements about power.
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