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Убогая и нарядная (The Wretched and the Bedecked)
Убогая и нарядная
also: The Wretched and the Bedecked
A poem by Nikolai Nekrasov (from the "On the Weather" cycle, c.1859) describing a destitute woman whose poverty has effectively put her body up for auction -- quoted here as an example of recitation material too provocative for a genteel evening.
Reading notes
- The Liberal Sweetheart §61 for sale at public auction
The quoted couplet is from Nekrasov's "Убогая и нарядная" ("The Wretched and the Bedecked," from the "O pogode"/"On the Weather" cycle, c.1859), which describes a destitute young woman whose poverty has effectively put her body up for auction like chattel -- an image of social exploitation jarringly out of place at a decorous charity soiree.