At An Inn

Throughout the poem Hardy is reflective, of his and Florence's relationship and specifically other peoples interpritaions of their relationship. At the beginning of the poem the mood is more playful (siblence and imagery illitrated this) whilst nearer the end of the poem Hardy is more bitter and regretful about the way his and Florences relationship turned out, "we seemes what we were not". Assonance is used which emphasises Hardy's longing "why he cast on our port a bloom not ours?". In this quote Hardy is questioning fait for why it was so evil.
Hardy descirbes other's jelously of their relationship, " ' Ah, God that bliss like theirs would flush out our day!", the exclaimation emphasises the inn keepers desire to be like them and to have a simular relationship.

Enjambment is used which speeds up the rhythm of the poem and the alliteration which features in many of the stanzas also contirbutes to this.
this is just my intritation of it.....

At an Inn
Autobiographical, Hardy and his lover (not emma) go to an inn; the owners think they’re “more than friends”, when actually “Never the love-light shone between us there”.
Years later, he looks back and wishes they were actually together “as we stood then”
Irony of actually being “strangers” when the owners are jealous of their apparent “bliss”
Love is personified: “shaped us for his sport in after hours?”rhetoric, fits in with Hardy’s views of higher powers/fate
Final stanza is ironic as they finally want to together like people thought they were, but cant because of “laws of men” and geography

Then consider the alternative interpretation of the sexual connotations running throughout.

Significance of form:
The poem follows a regular rhyme scheme (ABAB)this perhaps emphasises the manner at which Hardy presents the speakers separation from the female protagonist as one of loss and without unity. This follows the extended motif of the poem which is of a once mundane relationship and one for which the loss between lovers creates a sense of regret but also acceptance
Significance in structure:
Each stanza represents a clear movement in the speakers love for the female protagonist as he discusses his digressing thoughts in his dramatic dialogue. The poem expresses a sense of sorrow which is built upon as each stanza progresses. In the start It was a relationship for which “Never the love[‘s]-light shone” but know the speaker has nostalgic though and the poem ends with the exclamatory sentence “As we stood then!”. The irony of the last stanza goes deeper as we learn that as by the “laws of men” and the “severing of sea and land” they can never be together. (Remember this was in the Victorian era where planes didn’t exist).
Significance of language devices:
Sibilance – “stranger sought” emphasises the beginning that the relationship is nothing but a mundane unity of “strangers”
Personification – “Veiled smiles” this personification depicts a slyness to which the speaker is aware of while he is being observed with this lady by the hotel staff
“Love which quick’s the world” I can’t think of the device but this is a great talking point about how Hardy shapes meaning in his poem through using this abstract concept whereby love is able to quicken time and before you know it “death” is upon us. It identifies to me how the speaker is looking back on his regret and somehow feels as if he is unfulfilled, but at the same time he can never be fulfilled
“Severing sea and land” “laws of men” Is hardy trying to expose the social restriction of Victorian society. If so this is typical of the Victorian poet.