Question 1

At an Inn Analysis

Accepted Answer

Personification is used in the opening stanza of the poem to express that the speaker is suppressing his desire for romantic fulfilment caused by the social and gender ideologies of companions of the opposite sex. Love is also personified within the poem to suggest that it can hold such a power over a person that it has the potential to control them and push them to despair: an indication of his own despair and being romantically rejected perhaps.

Question 2

At an Inn Form

Accepted Answer

The poem comprises five octets (eight lines per stanza). The rigidity of this form serves as a reminder of the rigidity of their relationship because of social boundaries. Societal expectations in the Victorian Era meant it was heavily frowned upon for an unmarried couple to be seen dining together in this way, or even for a married person to be dining with another married individual of the opposite sex. Although the assumption of the staff at the inn was that they were a couple in love, at least for his companion the desire to uphold her morals and adhere to the societal expectations were still there as the reason she did not reciprocate his desires.

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At An Inn Analysis: A Level Pre-1900s Poetry