At Tea - Thomas Hardy

The kettle descants in a cosy drone,
And the young wife looks in her husband's face,
And then at her guest's, and shows in her own
Her sense that she fills an envied place;
And the visiting lady is all abloom,
And says there was never so sweet a room.

And the happy young housewife does not know
That the woman beside her was first his choice,
Till the fates ordained it could not be so....
Betraying nothing in look or voice
The guest sits smiling and sips her tea,
And he throws her a stray glance yearningly.

MEANING OF DIFFICULT WORDS

1.      Descants – a melody or counterpoint accompanying a simple musical theme and usually written above it / a song or melody.

2.      Drone – to make a dull, continued, low, monotonous sound; hum; buzz.

3.      Ordained – to destine or predestine / to enact or establish by law, edict / to decree; give orders for

POETIC/LITERARY DEVICES

This poem, in fact, is the equivalent of “flash fiction.” The poet quickly sets the scene, identifies the players and wastes no time in telling the observer what exactly is going on. Like each little poem in his “Satires” series, the rhyming scheme is ABABCC (alternate lines in the first four rhyme; last two of lines five and six rhyme).

Diciton: –

“And he throws her a stray glance yearningly.” Using the verb “throws” figuratively, the poet shows the desperation of the husband and just how fates have wrecked the husband’s true happiness as he yearns for another. The husband obviously would prefer to throw himself at the guest. 

Figures of speech

1.      Metaphors –

·         “The kettle descants in a cosy drone” The kettle is a metaphor for a musical instrument that plays above the main melody.

2.      Personification –

·         “Till the fates ordained it could not be so…”  An example of personification, the “fates” treated the poor guy badly and he was destined to marry another and doomed to pretend nothing was amiss.

3.      Hyperbole –

·         “And the visiting lady is all abloom” She is as a flower. The poem clearly conveys the idea of her being animated and beautiful from the single word “abloom.”

STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS

Stanza 1:

The poet starts the poem by describing the background/atmosphere of the surrounding. The kettle as if a musical instrument, gives out a melodic tune. The host, the young wife, looks at her husband and her guest’s face, to make sure she had done a good job by serving tea. She is satisfied with her work. The guest, a lady, is said to be “abloom” which could meant that the visiting lady is joyful or content and she gives out a comment saying the room is well furnished and it is very sweet.

Stanza 2:

As the poem unravels, Hardy tells us that there is a secret between the trios. The young wife is oblivious to the fact that her husband used to want the lady guest. Or still wants her, we are not sure about it. The woman is said to be his first choice until there is a twist of fate. The guest pretends that nothing had happened between herself and the husband by controlling her look and voice around the lady of the house. The last line, “And he throws her a stray glance yearningly”, tells us that maybe the husband still wants the lady guest after all by giving her looks.

CRITICAL APPRECIATION

This is an interesting story describing a situation that might happen to anyone at anywhere. The poem started with a warm and cosy setting with the kettle as a musical instrument at the background. The young housewife is said to be serving her visiting guest with tea with her husband present as well. The housewife is contented with her effort and feels like she just brightened up the place or lifted the atmosphere. The housewife also feels that people will envy her because people would want to be in her place. There is no hint of sadness or secretive motives by any of the character in the story. We are led by the thought of the peace during tea among the characters.

The visiting lady guest was all bubbly and joyful, exclaims that she has never seen such a room so sweet, or well furnished. We can say that she is full of praise or thanking the couple for inviting her for tea. Then the secret lurks in between the peaceful tea time. The poet tells us that the young wife does not know that the visiting lady was her husband first choice. The first choice here can be referred to first love or the first lady that catches the husband’s eyes and he wants to marry her. An uneventful turnout that fate isn’t on their side and the husband marries the current wife. The enjambment at line 9, “till the fates ordained it could not be so…” hints that the husband still has the feelings for the visiting lady that could not be his or there is a sense of regret in him.

The visiting lady who knows about the husband’s feeling towards her, acts as if she didn’t know about it and hides her emotions well. She pretends that they never had any history and this I think angers the man. He throws her a yearning glance. The diction used here shows the desperation of the husband and just how fates have wrecked the husband’s true happiness as he yearns for another. The husband obviously would prefer to throw himself at the guest. 

READING MATERIAL

“At Tea,” by Thomas Hardy is the first in his Fifteen Glimpses” where the author has a bit of fun by poking fun at human nature. In two 6-line stanzas,  Hardy sets the scene of a sad, but secret, love triangle wrapped around a happy young wife, her female guest for tea, and her husband.

The scene is set as a tea kettle “descants in a cosy drone.” The tea kettle is somewhat of “background music” in what will become a dialog-free peroration of not so much “if looks could kill,” but rather “if they could but read each other’s mind.” For example, in line two, “…the young wife looks in her husband’s face/…and shows in her own/her sense that she fills an envied place.” In a sort of cameo close-up, the reader knows right away that the hostess has done well.

The guest (a visiting lady friend) “is all abloom,” and in the only reference to conversation in the poem, “…says there was never so sweet a room.”  So the young wife thinks that all is well, but “…does not know/That the woman beside her was his (hubby’s) first choice.” Poor guy, “…the fates ordained it could not be so…”  But the guest, the woman the husband covets, “sits smiling and sips her tea,/And he throws her a stray glance yearningly.”

If “At Tea” were a modern soap opera, a good point to “flash back” might be number four in Hardy’s satires, “In the Room of the Bride-Elect.” The short poem in the same sad and satirical style of “At Tea” could well be about the guest, who was the subject of the husband’s sad yearning.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.helium.com/items/2121552-poetry-analysis-at-tea-by-thomas-hardy

http://www.bachlund.org/At_Tea.htm