At An Inn

'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.

'At An Inn': about the poem

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': full poem

'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.

'At an Inn' by Thomas Hardy

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.

Fig. 1 - Thomas Hardy is an English novelist and poet from the Victorian period.

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 an Inn': context

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.

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.

'At an Inn': summary

'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.

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.

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.

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.

Fig. 2 - An inn that existed in Victorian times.

'At An Inn': analysis

'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.

'At and Inn': form and rhyme scheme

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.

'At an Inn': meter

'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.

'At an Inn': literary devices

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.

You can spot enjambment in the lines below:

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.

'At an Inn': poetic references

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).