Dialect and dialogue: „The Ruined Maid‟
Dialogue
A dialogue is simply a conversation between two or more people. In „The Ruined Maid‟, Thomas
Hardy creates a dramatic dialogue, in which he represents an imagined conversation between ‟Melia
and an unnamed speaker who meets her in town, having previously known her as a country girl.
Read through the poem carefully:

Use one colour to highlight everything that the unnamed speaker says and another to show
everything ‟Melia says in response.

What do you notice about how much ‟Melia says?

How would you describe her tone of voice? What is her attitude towards her new profession, do
you think?

Hardy uses repetition in each of ‟Melia‟s lines. Which words are repeated and what is the effect?
Dialect
Dialect refers to the distinctive vocabulary and grammar used by people of a particular social class,
or who are from a particular area of the country.
Re-read the third stanza of „The Ruined Maid‟:
– „At home in the barton you said “thee” and “thou”,
And “thik oon”, and “theas 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.

Underline or highlight the dialect words. What do you think they might mean? Write your
suggested „translation‟ next to each word.

Now look at the rest of the poem and identify any other dialect words. What do you think they
mean?

How and why has ‟Melia changed her way of speaking?

Throughout the poem ‟Melia uses Standard English in her speech, with one exception. Can you
find it? What might this lapse show about ‟Melia and how much she has changed after all?
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Teaching notes
Dialect words
Line 6: „spudding up docks‟ means digging up weeds with a chisel-headed spade.
Line 9: „barton‟ is a Dorset and Somerset word for barn or farmyard.
Line 19: „megrims‟ is a dialect word for migraine headaches.
victorianweb.org/authors/hardy/poems/ruinedmaid.html
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