'At an Inn' (1898) is a poem by Thomas Hardy about friends thought to be lovers, who then become lovers thought to be ‘just friends'. Published in his first poetry collection, Wessex Poems, the poem has become a much-read classic.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmelden'At an Inn' (1898) is a poem by Thomas Hardy about friends thought to be lovers, who then become lovers thought to be ‘just friends'. Published in his first poetry collection, Wessex Poems, the poem has become a much-read classic.
Thomas Hardy's poem 'At an Inn' can be summarised as a poem about confined or forbidden love, societal laws and separation.
'At an Inn': Overview | |
Published in: | 1898 |
Author: | Thomas Hardy |
Published in: | Wessex Poems (1998) |
Structure: | Five octaves |
Rhyme scheme: | ABABCDCD with slant rhyme and end rhyme |
Meter: | Alternating Iambic tetrameter and diameter |
Themes: | Confined or forbidden love, Separation |
Literary devices: | Alliteration, enjambment |
Imagery: | Sea and land |
Summary: | The poem is written from the perspective of a traveller staying at an inn, who contemplates the lives of those who have stayed at the same inn before, as well as the inevitability of their own mortality. |
Analysis: | The poem is written from the perspective of a traveller staying at an inn, who contemplates the lives of those who have stayed at the same inn before, as well as the inevitability of their own mortality. The poem's title also serves as a metaphor for the temporary nature of human existence, as an inn is typically a temporary lodging place for travellers. |
'At an Inn' is one of Thomas Hardy’s poems that possibly featured Florence Henniker, a woman with whom he apparently visited at an inn in 1893.
When we as strangers sought
Their catering care,
Veiled smiles bespoke their thought
Of what we were.
They warmed as they opined
Us more than friends--
That we had all resigned
For love's dear ends.
And that swift sympathy
With living love
Which quicks the world--maybe
The spheres above,
Made them our ministers,
Moved them to say,
"Ah, God, that bliss like theirs
Would flush our day!"
And we were left alone
As Love's own pair;
Yet never the love-light shone
Between us there!
But that which chilled the breath
Of afternoon,
And palsied unto death
The pane-fly's tune.
The kiss their zeal foretold,
And now deemed come,
Came not: within his hold
Love lingered numb.
Why cast he on our port
A bloom not ours?
Why shaped us for his sport
In after-hours?
As we seemed we were not
That day afar,
And now we seem not what
We aching are.
O severing sea and land,
O laws of men,
Ere death, once let us stand
As we stood then!'
The author of 'At an Inn' is Thomas Hardy, who was born in the Dorset countryside in 1840. His rural upbringing influenced his literary work on a thematic level, leading him to create the fictional area of Wessex.
Hardy first married Emma Gifford at age 34. After Emma's death, he remarried a much younger, Florence Dugdale. Both marriages were considered unsuccessful and unhappy.
Similar to George Eliot, Hardy is often referred to as a Victorian Realist. His influences include John Milton, John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the philosopher, John Stuart Mill. Starting his literary career as a poet, Hardy then wrote novels considered to be classics of the Western Canon before going back to poetry. This was largely due to the controversy caused by the themes of his novels.
Consistent themes in his work include the realities of country life, the class system, religion as a social regulator, gender inequalities, and marriage.
Hardy died a short journey away from where he was born in Dorset, England.
At the time the poem was written, divorce, although officially legal was still considered socially unacceptable and was only possible for the very wealthy. This was due to the huge cost of the legal fees required. Hardy is not known for hiding his views on gender equality and marriage, at least in his novels. In reality, at the time of the poem, he was involved in a mutually unhappy marriage to a woman he wanted to cheat on. It is thought that in addition to his unhappiness, Hardy did not believe in the "eternal" aspects of marriage, as dictated by the church at the time.
Do you think that marriage is both a religious and a legal institution? If so, why?
Florence Henniker, an aristocratic author, was already married and although Hardy propositioned her, she apparently refused to have an affair with him. In the Victorian era, the consequences for women found to be having an affair were much worse than those for adulterous men. Generally, women would be considered ‘ruined’ and become outcasts.
Hardy wrote other poems about Florence, including 'Wessex Heights' (1914) and 'A Broken Appointment' (1901). After a long friendship, the two eventually did become lovers, according to this poem at least. It is known as fact that Hardy and Henniker were life-long friends who also collaborated on a short story, The Spectre of the Real (1893). Originally published only in Hardy's name, the work caused a small scandal for Henniker when her name was eventually attached in 1896.
Florence Henniker was born in 1855 in London. Ironically, she was named after Florence Nightingale, her godmother, with whom her father had a frustrated love affair.
She was an accomplished author, poet and playwright whose common themes included the reasons for the failure of heterosexual marriages and the then-current taboo around homosexuality.
'At an Inn' tells the story of friends, a man and a woman, who visit an inn together. The staff at the inn assume that they are lovers, even though they are not.
Ah, God, that bliss like theirs
Would flush our day!' (lines 15–16)
Without directly disputing the frisson that the staff sense, Hardy clarifies that they are not lovers, so we are led to assume that they must be friends.
Yet never the love-light shone
Between us there!' (lines 19–20)
Ironically, once the two do become lovers, they are no longer assumed to be lovers by other people. They cannot publicly or officially be together because one or both are still married at the time.
As we seemed we were not
That day afar,
And now we seem not what
We aching are.' (lines 33–36)
Hardy begins the final stanza of the poem by mentioning other things that are kept apart like the 'sea' and 'land'. He goes on to mention the things that keep them apart which are the 'laws of man' and wishes that before they die, they could appear with each other as they did back then.
'At an Inn' is analysed as a poem about forbidden love and what Hardy viewed as the confines of his society that largely viewed marriage as something that was strictly ‘until death do us part’.
The poem is addressed to the woman who is first the speaker's friend and then his lover.
The poem is five stanzas of eight lines each, so five octaves. It is written in blank verse with an rhyme scheme of ababcdcd. Some rhymes are examples of slant rhyme more than a direct end rhyme. This can be seen in the first stanza’s use of ‘care’ and ‘were’ as well as ‘ministers’ and ‘theirs’ in the second stanza.
Slant rhyme is a more subtle version of the usual end rhyme found in blank verse. It features words that sound remarkably similar without rhyming exactly.
'At an Inn' is written in alternating meters. Iambic Tetrameter is used for the long lines and Iambic Diameter is used for the shorter lines.
This creates a structural element to emphasis the enforced separation that the speaker feels exists between him and his lover.
Iambic tetrameter is a line of poetry that contains four metrical feet, each with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. It sounds like this:
duh-DUH duh-DUH duh-DUH duh-DUH
Iambic diameter is a line of poetry that contains only two metrical feet. Each foot is an iamb with two syllables, the first unstressed and the second, stressed. It sounds like this:
duh-DUH duh-DUH
Hardy makes extensive use of alliteration throughout the poem. Examples of his repetition of first letters can be seen in the first stanza’s ‘strangers sought’ and ‘catering care’. Other contrasting examples exist in stanza three’s, 'love-light', and stanza four’s 'palsied' 'pane-fly'.
The use of this device creates rhythm and accentuates words that Hardy would like to highlight. The sameness of alliteration, when contrasted with the alternating rhyme scheme, mirrors the paradox of the friends who appear to be lovers and the lovers who appear to be friends.
Hardy also makes use of enjambment, although this is reserved for shorter combinations than many modern poets use.
Enjambment is when a line of poetry runs on into the next without being broken by punctuation.
You can spot enjambment in the lines below:
And we were left alone
As Love's own pair;' (lines 17–18)
In this case, enjambment creates both rhythm and meaning, telling the reader how to connect the lines. Other examples of enjambment include lines 2–3 and lines 39–40.
What exactly is it that the speaker wishes he and his lover could go back to? Why do you think this?
Hardy alludes to another famous poem about romantic frustration. 'Mariana' (1830) by Lord Alfred Tennyson details unrequited love rather than forbidden love. The poems are linked by themes of confinement and separation, as well as references to a window (pane) and a fly.
Hardy’s 'pane-fly's tune' (line 24) is a fairly direct reference to Tennyson’s 'The blue fly sung in the pane' (line 63).
'At an Inn' contains five octaves of blank verse.
'At an Inn' is about forbidden or confined love and separation.
It is thought that Thomas Hardy wrote 'At an Inn' about his complex relationship with the author, Florence Henniker. They were life-long friends who may also have been lovers at a stage.
No. It is a poem with five octaves with an alternating iambic tetrameter and diameter.
'At an Inn' has an ABABCDCD rhyme scheme.
'At an Inn' was published by Thomas Hardy in 1898.
Who wrote 'At the Inn'?
Thomas Hardy.
Who is 'At the Inn' considered to be addressed to?
The poem is thought to be addressed to Florence Henniker, an author who Hardy had a long term friendship with.
What rhyme scheme does 'At the Inn' have?
ababcdcd.
What types of rhyme does 'At the Inn' make use of?
Slant rhyme.
What meter does the poem 'At the Inn' make use of?
Alternating Iambic tetrameter and Iambic diameter.
What themes exist in the poem 'At the Inn'?
Confined or forbidden love and separation are key themes in the poem.
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