AQA English Literature A-level

Poetry: Love Through the Ages

Anthology (Pre-1900)
Thomas Hardy: ‘At an Inn’

This work by PMT Education is licensed under https://bit.ly/pmt-cc

https://bit.ly/pmt-edu-cc CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
 AT AN INN
Thomas Hardy

Brief Summary

‘At an Inn’ explores an inconsistent

love experienced by the speaker and the
woman he addresses; one that does not
and then suddenly does exist. The
poem is five stanzas of octets with
alternating metrical patterns which gives
the poem a uniformity reminiscent of
easy conversation. The poem
considers perspectives and the
judgemental eye of society as the
couples’ relationship is examined by
those around them (although it is not
what it appears). By the final stanza, we
find that although they were not what
they once seemed, they are now in love
but tragically unable to be together.

Synopsis

Stanza 1: The two “strangers” walk into a pub together and the speaker seems to think
that the people in the pub assume that they are a couple. The speaker’s preoccupation
with how the couple are perceived suggests his own engrossment in what they could
be, rather than what they are. Clearly, they are not together in the way he hopes,
otherwise he would not comment and fixate on it.

Stanza 2: The pub dwellers aren’t questioning in the way that the speaker is, as we move
into “maybe/ The spheres about made them our ministers”. The speaker wonders if
supernatural forces want the couple to be together. The onlookers seek what the
speaker and his companion seem to have.

Stanza 3: The speaker reveals that unfortunately their situation is tragic; there was no
love or chemistry between them. There is no alliteration which marks a painful and chilling
change in tone. As readers, we are disappointed; the relationship seemed to have so
much hope but by the third stanza, we see that there is no hope. It is hard to tell whether
the speaker is mourning this fact or upset it was ever mentioned. There are no emotions

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
between the two at this point in the poem; their relationship is as futile as a fly hitting
the glass of a window pane.

Stanza 4: The speaker and his companion prepare to leave and do not kiss each other.
The implication is that if things had been as the people in the inn thought, they would have
kissed. There’s a shift to a third person narrative. This feels more powerful, almost like
the speaker is questioning God, a God he doesn’t believe in (if we take the speaker to be
Hardy himself). People at the inn expect them to kiss. The speaker is frustrated that it is a
“bloom not ours”, why would others or God suggest their love could work if it is certain it
cannot? He asks why God treats him like a play-thing, referencing King Lear who makes
the mistake of judgement. “In after hours” suggests that maybe they shouldn't be
together for other reasons we are not aware of but also suggests the drawn-out nature of
their love; it has blossomed late.

Stanza 5: Time has intensified the speaker’s love and the speaker returns to that day
again. Now they are not together but perhaps they wish to have been together, they
look back on that moment as a turning point. It becomes apparent that now things have
changed; they used to look like they were in love but were not and now it looks like they
aren't but are. Certain things keep them apart and so they cannot engage in the physical
side of their emotions. The last lines are desperate, he seeks a way to return to the inn
where it would’ve been possible for them to love one another as they wish to now.

Perhaps Hardy uses this poem to ignite questions of how Victorian society makes
superficial judgements. The speaker seems bitter and angry at the possibilities of what
this relationship could have been. It is possible they are caught in a loop of paranoia or is
it something more harrowing than that still? Questions are left unanswered and
unresolved for the reader by the end of the poem. Hardy’s style is pessimistic and
brutal, a speaker who resents what is rather than what could have been.

Context

The Victorian period:

- In Victorian society, it was inappropriate for a man to go for a drink with a woman if
they were not together. This leads the reader to question;
- How are the couple together and not together in the poem?
- England experienced great change during the years under Queen Victoria. The
advances in technology resulted in greater factory production and accelerated
growth of European economies. This in turn saw the creation of large amounts of
wealth which mostly benefited the middle class.
- New scientific discovery, such as Darwin’s “natural selection” theory meant there
was a challenge posed to the Church.

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
 - The new market economy favoured industrial development and discouraged
agriculture which resulted in large numbers of farmers and peasants losing their
livelihoods and moving to the cities in search for employment.

Literary Context:

- The Victorian period (1837-1901) was known to be carefully censored, straight

and exacting in standards, for example the values of the period such as religion,
morality, evangelism and personal improvement, took root in Victorian morality.
Hardy passionately opposed these constraints in his literary work as a poet and
a novelist.
- The Victorian period was extremely strict in terms of permitted sexual relations;
sex was not openly discussed which meant that many people born into the Victorian
age were both factually uninformed and emotionally ill at ease about sexual
matters. Additionally, moral panic over prostitution was at height in the 1850s
and 1869s. This was partly because it betokened visible female freedom from
social control. Female prostitutes enjoyed economic and personal freedom.
- One of the most notable things about Victorian-age poetry is the constant return to
themes of isolation and loss of innocence as well as romantic love and social
injustice. ‘At an Inn’ looks at the phases of love, that the first flush of love and
desire, when anticipation is everything and lovers are yet to consummate their
feelings is when two lovers’ romantic and sexual attachment is most apparent to the
world. It is when they have loved for years that they may go unnoticed by the world.
- In the Victorian period, poetry was highly valued and very popular. Romantic poets
such as William Wordsworth (died 1850) were particularly revered and recited.
- Much of Victorian poetry had a moral purpose, intended to oppose and object to
the unfair social and political systems. This can be seen in ‘At an Inn’ as the
speaker assesses the social constructs which hinder the blossoming of the love he
desires. It is also seen in the scrutiny of the inn workers who make assumptions
about the couple’s status.
- Another notable characteristic of Victorian poetry is that it was highly idealistic and
tackled issues of love, truth and justice. 'At an Inn' looks at the potential for love in a
restrictive society and how this climate suppresses such expression.

Hardy:

- Hardy is often considered a Victorian realist, examining the social constraints on

the lives of those living in Victorian Britain. This is apparent in 'At an Inn' as the
speaker makes note of the scrutinisation of the workers at the inn, their presumption
that the two friends are lovers and their desire to see them kiss.
- Hardy was born in 1840 and died in 1928, meaning that he experienced life in high
Victorian decorum and the awful destruction and devastation of World War I.

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
 - The effect of these experiences means his work is often read to be justifiably
angry and pessimistic.
- At the time, Hardy was best known for his poetry (in the 20th century he solely
published poetry) and only later did his novels become recognised as great literary
works. (such as Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd).
- Most of his work revolves around the tragedies caused by social
circumstances. In 'At an Inn' he addresses the conflicting issue of falling in love
with a woman who (if we read the poem autobiographically) is married. Victorian
society prevents the speaker from acknowledging any serious potential for the
blossoming of such a love and then the tragedy in the final stanza of its impossibility
when such restrictions are removed.
- Hardy wrote and published his poems at a time when ideas put into circulation by
Darwin’s Origin of Species were just beginning to take hold. Many of his readers
would have still believed that the world was created by an all-powerful and loving
God. This context is relevant in 'At an Inn' where the speaker draws on the ideas
that a supernatural force brings the couple together. Hardy was agnostic and it is
significant that his speaker questions the influence of much greater forces as
a means of explaining the intensity of emotion and highlights his desperation to
understand the situation.

Autobiographical elements:

- It is strongly suggested that 'At an Inn' is based on

the relationship Hardy had with Florence
Henniker. She was the wife of an army officer and at
the time of their visit to The George Hotel in
Winchester, in 1893, Hardy was married to his first
wife, Emma Gifford.
- Florence Henniker is the “rare fair woman” mentioned
in his poem ‘Wessex Heights’ and their platonic
relationship also features in ‘A Broken Appointment’.
- It seems that Hardy wanted more than friendship, in
fact it is often suggested that he fell in love with
Florence who he corresponded with for 30 years until
her death in 1923.
- Here there is possibly a longing for fulfilment on Hardy’s side, given that she did not
want to pursue anything more than friendship. The poem suggests that love is
thwarted and plagued by ill timing and lost opportunities.

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
 At an Inn

Alliteration suggests a comfort in the When we as strangers sought Immediately struck as the two people
location. walk in together.
The people do not know who or what
Their catering care,
they are but they’re interested in what Veiled smiles bespoke their thought Throughout the stanza there are layers
of euphemism; “veiled smiles” suggests
they could be. Of what we were. there’s something hidden beneath the
Verb and following rhyme suggests
there's speculation that the two are
They warmed as they opined smiles. It is as if people have judged that
these two are a couple, so the speaker
married. Us more than friends-- assumes that others in the pub think the
His fixation on the perception of the That we had all resigned two are together.
two as more than friends suggests the For love's dear ends.
reality is the opposite and such a
Their love appears like they are in a
union is perhaps what he wants.
young lover’s dream.

Alliteration emphasises what love And that swift sympathy He wonders whether supernatural
looks like to the others in the Inn. powers are willing the two to be
Idea that love makes your world run
With living love together. Though Hardy was strongly
faster, expression of the excitement in Which quicks the world--maybe agnostic so here he tries desperately to
love. The spheres above, understand how they have been brought
together.
Made them our ministers, Cyclical- they are together but not, this
Ironic that the speaker quotes people
Moved them to say, idea is repeated in each stanza.
in the pub in the last lines of stanza
because they admire the couple and "Ah, God, that bliss like theirs No alliteration marks a change in tone-
wish to be as happy as they look. Would flush our day!" tragic.
They seek what the speaker and his Irony of the situation has really built their
companion seem to have. Dramatic relationship up as something more,
irony because they are not together. simply because other people presumed
so.
And we were left alone
Personification of love.
Reality of relationship revealed, there
As Love's own pair; “Palsied” suggests this has paralysed
their relationship and as the day draws
was no chemistry between them. Yet never the love-light shone they get closer to the death of their
Between us there! relationship.
Seems like they are cold in their But that which chilled the breath
intentions when they are together.
Homophone- pane and pain. Implies Of afternoon,
the relationship is futile; as pointless And palsied unto death
as a fly flying into the window pane. The pane-fly's tune.
The people in the pub expect them to
kiss. We presume, the speaker also had
Shift to 3rd person narrative, gives a The kiss their zeal foretold, hoped that at some point.
sense of power, more powerful and
And now deemed come, Alliteration emphasises the futility of
God-like speaker.
It seems that was not within the Came not: within his hold hope for this love. Embjambed line is
endstopped, mirroring hope abruptly cut
speaker’s power to create love, the Love lingered numb. off; numb - silences any ideas of hope.
ambiguous ‘he’ - perhaps love Why cast he on our port Learned reference to King Lear where
personified? - has power ‘hold’ the King divides his kingdom and makes
Judgemental speaker; judging a God
A bloom not ours? a mistake of judgement “as flies wanton
that seems brutal. The tone makes Why shaped us for his sport void we are to the Gods, they kill us for
their sport.”
the speaker sound very distressed In after-hours? Suggestion that the speaker feels that
and frustrated (why would others or
he is the play thing of God.

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
God suggest our love could work if it
cannot?)
Love is shaped by society’s Exaggerates the importance of time and
conventions. As we seemed we were not the difference between then and now.

That day afar, Sentiment reminiscent of Tennyson

Alliteration & assonance accentuates
the divisions between these 2. There
And now we seem not what “better to have loved and lost than to not
have loved at all”.A disappointment,
is a geographical severing but also We aching are. tinged with sadness that they are not
the views of others, “the laws of men”, O severing sea and land, together.
limit their chances of being together. O laws of men,
Exclamation ignites a compelling Ere death, once let us stand
emotive streak, yet resigned to its fate As we stood then!
with a society that has strict rules. A
poem of love that could have been
but was never allowed to develop.

Themes

Love and loss:

- Love is thwarted by lost opportunities, there is a fascination with what could have
been and the potential of the pair’s relationship.
- This is seen in the speaker’s yearning for the relationship, or perceived relationship
he had in the past with the woman he speaks of. He is bitterly distraught by the
final stanza that what was once a promising friendship/ relationship is now quashed
by “severing sea and land” (line 37)
- The speaker makes clear the multiple forms of loss he feels: firstly, the loss of a
friendship alluded to in the fact “they opined/ us more than friends” (lines 1-2).
The voice, in saying this implies that the two were friends but the people in the pub
thought they were more. Additionally, we can assume that before love would come
friendship and this is what the poem suggests as we read on because the couple
seem to get on so well that everyone around them thinks they are in love when they
are actually just friends at this point in time. Another kind of loss the poet describes
is the couple’s audience’s loss in understanding what they see before them. They
are presumptuous; “ah, God, that bliss like theirs/ would flush our day!” (lines
18-19). Their determination to see love between the couple clouds their vision
and veils them from the cold reality of the situation. The speaker then goes on to
explain the absence of love between the two in this stage of their relationship; “and

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
 we were left alone/ as Love’s own pair;/ yet never the love-light shone” (lines
17-19) There is a loss of opportunity made evident by the speaker as he makes the
point that when the couple had the chance to engage in love, they missed each
other for between them was only friendship. This is the root of the speaker’s true
pain and the main sense of loss within the poem; the speaker is most damned by
the loss of opportunity to love the woman he once had the chance to love. “And
now we seem not what/ we aching are” (line 35-36); the use of “aching”
emphasises the speaker and his companions’ yearning for a return to the past when
love was possible.
- In the final stanza, the pair want to love each other unlike before but now the
situation no longer allows for them to be together.

The past being better than the present:

- One of the tragic elements of the poem is the speaker’s supposed conviction that
what the couple had before they fell in love may have been better than the pain he
feels in the final stanza despite the fact that their relationship was not founded in
love; “never the love light shone” (line 19) This demonstrates a yearning for the
past and the speaker’s dangerous use of retrospective. Retrospective makes it
easier for him to glorify the past and forget the challenges such a relationship would
have posed. His poem is a walling in self-pity as he wishes for something that
really could never have been.
- The past is preferable to the present; the speaker looks back nostalgically to when
the couple were physically close, although he admits they were emotionally distant.
This contrasts to his current sense of emotional closeness but physical distance,
indicated by the pair’s separation by “sea and land” (line 37)

Irony:

- Though the guests around them think the pair are lovers, Hardy writes that kisses
“came not” (line 26) and that, oxymoronically, “love lingered numb” (line 27).
It is ironic that the surrounding audience perceive the couple as lovers because the
speaker makes it clear that they were not in love; “no love-light shone” (line 19)
This consequently changes the way we read certain lines such as “and that swift
sympathy/ with living love/ which quicks the world- maybe” (linse 9-11). The
speaker’s tone may be considered wistful here as he retrospectively observes how
the couple used to be perceived as lovers and he wished now, at the point of writing
when they are separated and now in love, that he could experience the dizzying
whirlwind of falling in love with this woman.
- The ironic and tragic element is found at the end of the poem especially, when the
narrator suggests that now the couple desire each other as lovers, the
opportunity is gone.

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
Proximity and distance:

- The pair are close, drinking together 'At an Inn' at the start but emotionally and
sexually distant. This is contrasted at the end when they are emotionally close but
physically distant and unable to act on their feelings.
- Hardy’s speaker rails against the sea and the land and the laws of men which
forces lovers to be divided.
- A reader might ask, has love (as yearning) blossomed in spite of distance, or
because of distance? When they were together, their relationship was “chilled”
(line 21) and there seemed no possibility of love; now that the pair are separated,
they are close and “aching” (line 36) for each other. Is this because distance has
allowed them to idealise the other, to create an image of the other that does not
match reality?

Gender and sexuality:

- The speaker bemoans the social laws which prevent the lovers from being together,
the tragedy here is seen as politically challenging.
- “'At an Inn'” follows gender expectations, the only voice we hear is masculine. The
companion, whom we presume is a woman, is both nameless and voiceless and
seems to uphold the societal ideals of a lady; she does not push or make any
hints at a desire for more than friendship with the speaker.

God, Gods and the indifference of the universe:

- Hardy offers in his tragic verse evidence of an uncaring universe. He questions

how the couple can be drawn together and yet not allowed to consummate their
feelings. He suggests this cruelty and manipulation could only be the work of some
superhuman power. Hardy references Shakespeare’s King Lear when the speaker
opines that an ambiguous “he” “shaped [the pair] for his sport” (line 31); this
recalls the line “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their
sport” that Gloucester utters after he is blinded.

Structure

Form:

- 5 stanzas of octets (8 lines each).

- Regularity of form reflects the speaker’s comfort in the inn with his companion.
Their friendship is easy and comes naturally.

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
Metre:

- There is an alternating metrical pattern of iambic trimetres and shorter lines of

dimetres (2 metrical feet).

Rhyme Scheme:

- Structured rhyme scheme throughout; each octet is divided in half so the pattern is
abab cdcd throughout.
- This rhyme scheme gives the poem a conversational tone, an ease between the
couple is established. It is as if he is recounting a story known well by the both of
them in a light-hearted and reminiscent way.
- However, the manipulation of the accented beats on particular words reveal
tension beneath this casual tone.

“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.”

- There is an ambiguity in the word “strangers” - does the speaker mean strangers
to each other or to the people at the inn?
- The contrast between the two strangers and the idle gossipers at the inn is made
evident in the way the stanza’s focus switches between the two groups “we as
strangers” / “their...care” / “veiled smiles/ what we were” / “they opined/ Us
more than friends”.
- The half rhyme of “care” and “were” emphasises the distance from the time he
describes in the past and what they supposedly have now. What they “were”',
implying they are something different in the present. It also highlights the
presumptions of the people watching, who all made assumptions from visual
signifiers. Hardy comments on the way society has a desire to understand or be
involved in everyone’s life. There is a strong desire for gossip and for knowing
which he subtly criticises.

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
Language

Alliteration:

“Strangers sought” / “catering care” (lines 1-2)

- This alliteration at the start of the poem in stanza one creates a tone of comfort and
affection in its softness.
- It sets the tone of the first stanza and the atmosphere expected from the title 'At an
Inn'.

“Swift sympathy” / With living love” (line 9-10)

- The alliteration here gives the reader an idea of how the people in the inn perceive
the couple’s affection. The “s” of “swift sympathy” creates a swooping sensation,
the reader can almost sense the way the sympathy for the pair spread throughout
the space as they are observed and perceived to be in love.
- It’s “s” also creates an immediacy, implying the readiness of others to pass
judgements on visual signifiers such as a man and a woman 'At an Inn' talking and
sharing drinks.
- The “l” sound is impatient in contrast to the softness of the “s” and gives the words
“living love” a vibrancy which demonstrates the people’s eagerness to interpret
the situation as the one that brings them most joy; that the pair are a happy
couple in love.

“Love lingered numb” (line 28)

- The “l” here is elongated, partly due to the single syllable of “love” being followed by
the double syllable word. It has the effect of sounding as it means. The single
syllable of “numb” works to the same effect.
- There is a silencing of hope and the futility of the pair’s love is made evident.

Personification:

“Love’s own pair” (line 18)

- Implies their love does not belong to them, instead they are at the whim of Love.
- This gives the speaker and his companion a lack of control, a sense of
helplessness and unable to make decisions for themselves. This may hint at the
controlling and dictating functionality of society but also relates to the speaker’s
inability to grapple with the immensity of his emotions which he decides must
be the working of a supernatural force he has no control over.
- The speaker suggests the couple are owned, they are not autonomous beings.
- In this line, however, they are united as a “pair”, implying the speaker’s wishes for
such a union despite its improbability.

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
“Love lingered” (line 28)
- Love is given a persona, as if it has autonomy and is a physical presence rather
than an intangible emotion shared between people.
- Possibly, the appearance of love between the pair is so great that it is almost
palpable.
- The couple and the others watching them felt something so strong that it is as if
love were a person who just left the room and their aura is still felt.

“Why cast he on our port

A bloom not ours?
Why shaped us for his sport
In after-hours?” (lines 29-32)
- The ‘he’ is ambiguous and could refer to a deity (as King Lear’s Gloucester refers to
a deity when he exclaims ‘As flies wanton to wanton boys are we are to the Gods/
They kill us for their sport’) but could also refer to the capitalised and personified
‘Love’ of the preceding line. The idea that love is playing a cruel ‘sport’ with them is
paradoxical - love, by definition, cannot be cruel.

Cosmic imagery:

“Spheres above” (line 12)

“Quicks the world” (line 11)
“Breath/ Of afternoon” (lines 21-22)
- The speaker is so unsure of how he has developed a desire for more than
friendship with his companion, how they appeared so in love when they are not and
how the universe has brought them together and yet no love is born.
- His questioning exceeds the space of Earth and moves into the supernatural. This
is because what he asks seems to have no worldly explanation.
- Not only does the imagery illuminate the speaker’s unanswerable and illogical
questions, it also alludes to the overpowering, magical nature of love itself.
- “Quicks the world” implies that love is such a powerful force that it appears to make
the world spin faster. The first flushes of love are so spurred and intoxicating that
the lovers’ worlds move at a quicker pace.
- These whimsical and romantic notions liken the power of love to those of God or
supernatural forces. As readers we can discern from the speaker’s expressions that
he is familiar with love, but whether this is love borne of as-yet unrequited feelings
for his “chilled” companion, we do not know.

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
Cyclical structure:

- Hardy starts and ends with the same memories, this gives a sense of
helplessness. The speaker returns over and over to what could have been.
- The cosmic imagery adds the cyclical feeling and could possibly hint at the inability
of the speaker to comprehend what has happened; it is beyond him.

Metaphor:

“Yet never the love-light shone / Between us there!” (line 19-20)

- Love is described as something which emits light, as a source of clarity,
something which enables sight. This is significant as something the speaker deeply
desires. He wants his questions of the universe answered, he wants an explanation
for his emotions, he wants more than friendship from his companion.
- The use of “shone” also implies other, amicable and warming elements to the “love
light” whilst making the reader pity the speaker for the tragedy that it never shone
between the two back when they were at the inn.
- Love light was also a word which meant the light in a lover’s eyes, first used in
1823.

Critical Views

Albert J Guerard: “The Illusion of Simplicity: the shorter poems of Thomas Hardy”

“What irritated the late Victorians is pleasing to us, who prefer...the pure
unsentimental notes of sadness, loneliness and deprivation sounded decade after
decade; the sense of a life as a succession of small undramatic defeats; the honest
declaration of unfaith and unhope”

- Guerard considers the simplification of extremely complex feelings of loss that the
speaker feels; the pain is “pure” in a way that is unfamiliar to the ways other
poems in the anthology explore the theme of love and loss. For example,
Keats in “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” uses the imagery of the medieval knight and a
bewitching fairy figure to evoke the sense of love loss and sickness, whereas Hardy
maintains a truthfulness which leaves a quiet “loneliness and deprivation”.
- The mention of “small undramatic defeats” is striking as Hardy uses circumstances
that feel real and true to translate the speaker’s pain into words. The image of the
couple being together 'At an Inn' and now separated by sea and land is not complex
or far-fetched, it’s tangible and realistic, which makes the scenario more heart
breaking.
- Guerard also draws on the concept of “honest declaration”, which we may interpret
as the speaker being the poet himself. If we take this to be the case, the poem

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
 takes on a new level of sincerity as Hardy’s personal circumstances are the result
of the melancholy tone. Hardy was an extremely private man and didn’t write
himself into much of his prose work, in fact, he avoided any form of personal
iteration within his novels, but seemed to have been more autobiographical in his
poetry. His first wife is known to have said, “There is more autobiography in a
hundred lines of Mr Hardy’s poems than in all of his novels”.

“There is a very modern awareness of psychic fatigue, of tiredness and dullness of

spirit. And there is also, of course, the ironic awareness of ordinary human
incompatibilities, of misplaced hopes and absurdly mismatched destinies.”

- Guerard points out Hardy’s fatigue; the tone of ‘At an Inn’ demonstrates this
lethargy through the speaker’s quietly disappointed angst that he will never be
able to live the life he now desires with the woman he speaks of. The pace is slow
as the speaker comes to terms with the situation. He is disappointed and seems
frustrated but his frustration is not expressed in overly angry tones.
- In ‘At an Inn’, the mismatched paths of the couple are evident in the fact that when
they had the chance to be together, they were not in love but when they are
eventually emotionally in love, they are physically separated. The irony is expressed
by Guerard as “mismatched hopes” which is especially present and persistent in the
speaker’s wishing for alternative circumstances despite their impossibilities.

Comparisons

“'At an Inn'” and “The ruined Maid”

1. Gender and sexuality

It is important to think about how Hardy presents gender and sexuality in his poems and
where the narrator’s sympathies lie. “The Ruined Maid” challenges some ideas about the
way women are defined by Victorian culture. However, many of society’s ideas are
endorsed. This is seen in the stereotypical representation of the women in “The Ruined
Maid”, the way they uphold ideals of femininity and Amelia is presented as the woman with
the more desirable life, as well as being particularly superficial - a supposedly feminine
trait. In ‘At an Inn'”, Hardy’s speaker is unable to mask his desire to progress the
relationship with his companion. However, his speaker evinces no such desire and the
atmosphere between them remains “chilled” (line 21). In this way, she upholds Victorian
standards of female propriety.

Women in Hardy are predominantly weak and men much stronger. In “The Ruined Maid”,
we are presented with a strong rural woman who appears to work just as hard as the
men in the country. However, she is susceptible to the ideals of femininity, fashion and
societal acceptance and the woman she admires is the epitome of this. Amelia’s rejection

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
of the rural life exposes her as a fraud in upper-class society and the perception of a
woman’s fickleness and preoccupation with matters of appearance and social status.
Similarly, in “'At an Inn'” the speaker’s companion is yoked to the expectations of
society and acts accordingly. Like the unnamed rural woman, the companion has no
name and additionally, no voice. The poem is overpowered by masculine thought and
desire.

2. Love and loss

‘At an Inn’ presents the tragedy of the irretrievable loss of opportunity. When the couple
have access to each other, they appear to be in love but when the situation changes and
they are separated by land and sea, they find themselves actually in love. The conflict for
the narrator is the exasperation of considering what could have been and what he has lost
because opportunity has come and passed him by. He is left, in the final stanza, grappling
with a love he cannot hold onto. In ‘The Ruined Maid’, Amelia takes the opportunity to
climb the social ladder but her persistence to elevate her status means that she has
forgotten where she has come from. She has lost insight and the clarity of mind that her
rural upbringing afforded her. This is made most obvious when she chastices her old
friend for her aspirations to enter high society. Amelia has also lost physically, as a “ruined
maid”, she has lost her virginity and innocence, and not for love but for social acceptance.
Thus, loss, in its different manifestations - is a theme in both poems.

3. Social conventions and taboos

Women are often victims of love and society, for example, in ‘At an Inn’ the restrictions of
society prevent the pair from progressing their relationship further. A woman and a man
together in public, unmarried, was also socially unacceptable. The speaker in the poem
seems frustrated by the limits he must abide by. ‘The Ruined Maid’ criticises social
conventions more overtly, through the deeply ironic discussion between the two women.
Social convention means that both women are essentially ruined, despite Amelia’s
apparent success in climbing the social ladder, she risks being rejected by respectful
society as a woman who has engaged in sexual activity outside marriage.

“'At an Inn'” and “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”

1. Love and Loss

‘At an Inn’ explores several kinds of loss but most deeply examines the loss of perceived
opportunity. The main focus of the poem is the speaker’s regret in not feeling love
towards a woman in the early stages of their relationship, or not allowing himself to
(considering the context of the poem and the fact it may relate to Hardy’s real life situation
where the women he had desires for was married and so was he at the time). He explicitly
points out “never the love-light shone” (line 19) clearly telling the reader the couple,
although perceived as lovers, were not interested in each other romantically. However, by
the end of the poem, we learn that this friendship and enjoyment of each other’s company

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
has developed into love and this is what he years for. He wishes endlessly that there was
now no barrier for them to be together but they are unfortunately separated by “sea and
land” (line 37). This kind of loss causes the speaker a similar kind of yearning as the
knight in “La Belle Dame Sans Merci''. This is seen in the nostalgic and retrospective
nature of both poems; both speakers take the form as an opportunity to reflect on a time
when their lover was with them. In contrast, however, the knight tells the story of how he
was smitten with the elfish woman and this distinguishes his loss from that of the speaker
in Hardy’s poem as it seems more profoundly visceral. The speaker in ‘At an Inn’ wishes
for more than he can remember in the past because he never had a romantic relationship
with the woman he now loves, whereas the Knight feels the pain of a loss of something
that he once had, even if it was in a dream.

Another noticeably different way the poems deal with loss is that the Knight is
completely alone as he tells his story; “And this is why I sojourn here,/ Alone and
palely loitering” (line 45-46). This loneliness is also made apparent by the sparse setting
in which he is found and left, compared to the abundant nature descriptions of when he is
with the elfish woman. By contrast, the speaker in ‘At an Inn'’ never seems to extract
himself from the partnership he longs for. He mentions the physical distance between
the pair in the last stanza. However, a deeper emotional connection between the couple is
implied by his assertation that they are “aching” (line 36) for each other. Thus, the
speaker in ‘At an Inn’ is only separated from his lover physically, whereas the Knight
is both physically and emotionally estranged from the woman he was involved with.

2. Romantic love of many kinds

The love between the couple in ‘At an Inn’ appears to be a love that has come about after
years of knowing one another. In “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” the love the knight
experiences is sudden and closer to infatuation or obsession. He is so physically in
love that it makes him sick and changes his countenance, hence his “palely loitering”
(line 2) mode and why he is “so haggard and wo-begone” (line 6). However, while the
two loves appear different, the love of the speaker in ‘At an Inn’ can also be called
immature, despite their many years of knowing their distant partner. We can conjecture
that is it a love that can only blossom with distance as, Guerard points out, there may be
“ordinary human incompatibilit[y]” between them and it may only be the idealisation
(and therefore distortion) of the other that distance allows that causes his heart to now
“ache” (line 36). Another parallel between the loves described in the two poems is the
truncated nature of both. The love between the pair in ‘At an Inn’ can never be
consummated or come to fruition, and similarly the knight will never meet his lover
again - who may well have been a fantasy anyway.

3. Love through the ages according to individual lives (young love and maturing love)
The love in ‘At an Inn’ seems more mature - the love of someone with more experience
than the knight in “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”. His tone is more measured and his

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
assessment of the love that he has lost or missed out on is mournful but in some ways
accepting. He states the way it is, his poem is a wishing for something that cannot happen
and he sees that now as at the end of the poem he calls out in exasperation “ere death,
once let us stand/ as we stood then!” (lines 39-40). In this way, he accepts that in this
life, their union is not possible. The knight, however, remains “palely loitering” (line 2)
throughout the whole poem in the same baron landscape which he is found in. He is
lovesick to the point of no return, and unable to move forward with his life. This is partly
why he seems young and inexperienced in love, his description of being in love with the
elfish woman is fast paced, sudden and we can liken it to the description in “'At an Inn'”;
“love/ which quicks the world” (lines 10-11). He is caught up in an overwhelming
feeling that is unmatched by the longing of the speaker in ‘At an Inn’.

4. Proximity and distance

Proximity and distance are themes relevant to both poems. In neither poem do we actually
meet the female lover, only iterations of her through memories in ‘At an Inn’ and
dreams/ memories in ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’. The female lover is therefore
distant and ambiguous in both poems. We do not know whether the lady in ‘La Belle
Dame’ loved the knight, despite her (questionable) assertion that she “love[d him] true”.
Likewise, we are not sure whether or not the speaker’s companion in ‘At an Inn’ harboured
feelings for him all that time ago (that she simply did not act upon). In this way, the reader
experiences a part of the distance her male lover feels.

The poems both move through modes of proximity, ultimately ending in distanced lovers.
In ‘At an Inn’, the pair are initially physically close; “left alone” (line 17), “Love’s own
pair” (line 18), “between us” (line 20, but by the end they are physically distanced by the
“severing sea and land” (line 37). The initial physical proximity of the couple is
counterbalanced by emotional distance, seen in “never the love light-shone” (line 19)
and “love lingered numb” (line 28). This reverse is true in “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”,
where the knight is firstly found “alone and palely loitering” (line 2). After he “me[ets] a
lady in the meads'' (line 13) his sense of distance from love is diminished and the couple
engage in presumably sexual acts; “she looked at me as she did love,/ and made
sweet moan” (line 19-20), “I set her on my pacing steed” (line 21), “she took me” (line
29, “I shut her wild wild eyes” (line 31). The proximity of the two is intense; they do a lot
of things in rapid succession (almost something new in each stanza) whereas in ‘At an
Inn’, the speaker uses the poem to only talk about one instance of proximity. The effect of
this is that although the Knight and his elfish lady seem to do a lot, the experience seems
short and rushed whereas love is drawn out in ‘At an Inn’. For this reason, the Knight’s
sudden experience of distance; “I awoke and found me here,/ On the cold hill’s side” (line
43-44) is more painful and raw, possibly fresher than the gradual distance established by
the speaker and his lover in Hardy’s poem.

https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc