1. ‘The Ruined Maid’ and ‘At an Inn’
Victorian Era
‘The Ruined Maid’ and ‘At an Inn’
L.O. to explore how attitudes to love are presented in Hardy’s poems

2. Old pastoral society vs rise of industrialism
AO3 for both Hardy poems
Critics have described his work as acting like a ‘bridge between Victorian attitudes and modernism’.
Old pastoral society vs rise of industrialism
As a young man growing up in rural Dorset, he witnessed the decline of old pastoral society – ways of life which had changed little in hundreds of years - and the rise of industrialism.
Himself occupied an ambiguous social position as he was from a working class background but was well-read: themes of transitioning social status and challenging society attitudes, particularly towards women and relationships interested him.
Thomas Hardy
Influenced by Romanticism e.g. poets like Wordsworth evident in the way in which nature is represented in his poetry.
Occupies a unique position in that he was writing at the end of the Victorian era and the beginning of the Modern era - a point of transition in literature.

3. AO3: working class Victorian women
The two speakers in ‘The Ruined Maid’ are both working class females. In the Victorian era, women were very much dependent on men for financial stability since they were denied opportunities for anything more than the most basic education and had limited access to professional careers. For poor women, options were limited: make an advantageous marriage or work hard, manual jobs with little financial reward. However, a number of women were ‘kept’ as mistresses or worked as prostitutes in comparative comfort.

4. What is Hardy’s main point in ‘The Ruined Maid’?
1 minute thinking time
Think
Share ideas with your partner
Pair
Prepare to share with class
Share
What is Hardy’s main point in ‘The Ruined Maid’?
It was convenient for society to view ‘fallen’ or ‘ruined’ women like this because their transgressions were frowned upon:
But in reality their experience may sometimes have been more like this, since although their ‘work’ wasn’t ‘honest’ it did provide some security and wealth:
Irony of how country life as a farm labourer physically/superficially ‘ruins’ the maid more than her new life in ‘prosperi-ty’ and ‘polish’ – although morally it’s a different story. Injustice of women’s limited opportunities in society? Re relationships – nothing to do with love but all to do with financial gain/comfort/survival?

5. What is the irony in the poem? What point in Hardy making?
Share with your partner: a) examples of this technique and b) the effect or meaning created
Symbolism of clothing
Appearance and reality
Stanza structure/
presentation of dialogue
Refrain (repeated phrase throughout, like a chorus
The ruined maid’s tone in line 4 of each stanza
AABB regular rhyme scheme and iamb followed by anapestic trimeter rhythm
Use of contrast
What is the irony in the poem? What point in Hardy making?
Colloquial language/use of hyphenation vs more refined language
Evidence of modernism and traditionalism

6. Hardy presents a glamorous affair in his poem ‘The Ruined Maid’
Make a note of these two critical viewpoints and an outline of how you respond
Agree/disagree? Overview- why?
Key reasons why, linked to writer’s methods, typicality and context
Counter argument
Conclusion
Hardy presents a glamorous affair in his poem ‘The Ruined Maid’
Hardy’s speakers reflect moral choices in love in ‘The Ruined Maid’

7. This poem is based on a real meeting between Hardy and a woman called Florence Henniker. He greatly admired Florence, though they were both married to other people, but she did not return his romantic feelings. They did, however, remain friends for a long time and wrote letters to one another.
In this poem, Hardy revels in the inn people’s mistaken assumption that they are ‘more than friends’ and expresses his regret that ‘love linger[s] numb’ between them.
At the end of the poem, he reflects on the reasons why their love cannot be – the mysterious force which has ‘chilled the breath/ Of afternoon’.
AO3: At an Inn

8. The rhythm WHEN we as strangers sought Their catering care Regular
One line of iambic trimeter, which breaks every second line with a shorter line full of stresses. Many of these shorter lines are monosyllabic
This alternating rhythm creates a faltering effect and mimics the appearance (iambic trimeter) and reality (more profound rhythm) in the poem – and Hardy’s/the speaker’s regret that the couple aren’t romantically involved

9. The opening lines reference the setting of the poem and title – the couple is ‘at an inn’, somewhere where they aren’t known (‘strangers’).
WHEN we as strangers sought Their catering care, Veiled smiles bespoke their thought Of what we were. They warmed as they opined 5 Us more than friends— That we had all resigned For love’s dear ends.
providing
Are these ‘veiled smiles’ genuine or just what Hardy wants to see? Does he believe their love is unmistakeable?
expressed an opinion
What could Hardy mean here when he speaks of ‘all resigned’? What could this suggest in the context of this relationship?

10. What effect does the alliteration in the first two lines of this stanza create?
Hardy is effectively saying here that love makes the world go round ‘quicks the world’ and people are quick to ‘sympathise’ with love and long to possess it for themselves.
And that swift sympathy With living love 10 Which quicks the world—maybe The spheres above, Made them our ministers, Moved them to say, “Ah, God, that bliss like theirs 15 Would flush our day!”
revives
References to the ‘spheres above’ suggest that their love is or should be destined to happen.
What else could these religious references suggest? Do they remind you of anything?
In this piece of dialogue the inn people wish that they could be as happy and in love as Hardy and Florence.

11. Exclamation expresses this as a sudden, surprising revelation – he has been almost deceived by the observers? Or does it express his incredulity and sense of injustice that they cannot be together? This is at odds with the previous lulling rhythm – another contradiction in the poem suggesting things are not as they should be.
What is the effect of the alliteration of liquid sounds here? ‘Left alone/ As Love’s own pair’ reflects how they are alone, private and secure yet the world’s values shatter this sanctum.
And we were left alone As Love’s own pair; Yet never the love-light shone Between us there! 20 But that which chilled the breath Of afternoon, And palsied unto death The pane-fly’s tune.
affected by a wasting condition
What do these images reveal about how they are actually behaving with one another?

12. Whose ‘zeal’ do you think Hardy could be talking about here
Whose ‘zeal’ do you think Hardy could be talking about here? Is there any ambiguity?
Hardy deliberately juxtaposes ‘come’ with ‘came’ to emphasise the dashed hopes here.
Energy or enthusiasm
The kiss their zeal foretold, 25 And now deemed come, Came not: within his hold Love lingered numb. Why cast he on our port A bloom not ours? 30 Why shaped us for his sport In after-hours?
Again, Hardy uses alliteration here to talking about love – that lulling liquid sound. What effect does this create here? How does this connect with his subject matter and attitude?
Why does Hardy personify Love here? What attitude or emotion is he trying to express? Why does he use the words bloom and sport?

13. We learn that this is a retrospective poem – is it reflecting on the distant past (‘afar’) or is it suggesting he feels it an eternity when separated from her?
This line reflects a Romantic theme: man is portrayed as insignificant compared to nature.
What does this idea of ‘severing sea and land’ suggest and is this literal or metaphorical? Why is nature referred to here?
As we seemed we were not That day afar, And now we seem not what 35 We aching are. O severing sea and land, O laws of men, Ere death, once let us stand As we stood then! 40
The reference to ‘laws of men’ reflects one of Hardy’s important concerns – what is it?
In the last stanza, Hardy reflects about why their love cannot be. What do the final two lines suggest about Hardy’s attitude to love?

14. Hardy presents his speaker as full of lust and longing in this poem.
Make a note of these two critical viewpoints and an outline of how you respond
Agree/disagree? Overview- why?
Key reasons why, linked to writer’s methods, typicality and context
Counter argument
Conclusion
Hardy explores the ways in which society can dictate love in this poem.
Hardy presents his speaker as full of lust and longing in this poem.