‘AT TEA’
This is a poem by Thomas Hardy
Hardy was a famous
English novelist and
poet. He lived
between 1840 and
1928, which is
roughly the same era
as Maupassant.
Writers choose their
words carefully for
effect and so it is
important to think about
why they make these
choices and what impact
they have
especially when writing
explanations.
EVERY WORD
HAS A
MEANING AND
IS CHOSEN FOR
A REASON
Now look
at this poem and write
down the words
that you think
would best fit in the
blanks in your
draft books. Select
your words carefully!
The kettle descants to a cosy drone,
And the young wife……………………………at her husbands face,
And then at her guest’s, and …………………………….. In her own
Her sense that she fills an envied place;
And the visiting ……………………………… is all abloom,
And says there was never so………………………………a room.
And the happy young housewife does not know
That the woman beside her was first his…………………………..,
Till the fates ordained it could not be so.
…………………………………..nothing in look or voice
The guest sits smiling and sips her tea,
And he throws her a stray glance……………………………..
AT
TEA
The kettle descants to a cosy drone,
And the young wife looks at 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.
On your own, write brief answers to the
following questions:
1.How does the wife feel?
2.Does she know what is going on?
3.How does the husband feel?
4.How does the other woman feel?
5.Why do you think she did
not marry the man?
6. How does the guest
look at the man and wife?
FIND AND
CIRCLE AS
MANY
EXAMPLES OF
ALLITERATION
OR SIBILANCE
AS YOU CAN
Alliteration: Words that begin with
the same letter which are placed in
close succession to one another e.g.
“Five miles meandering in a mazy
motion.”
Sibilance: This is alliteration BUT
with s sounds only e.g. “The snake
slithered stealthily away.”
The kettle descants to a cosy drone,
And the young wife looks at 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.
Complete these sentences.
The guest seems cunning and sly. This is
evident in the line, ‘The guest sits smiling
and sips her tea.’ The sibilance in this line
makes her
sound……………………………………………..
FIND AND
CIRCLE AS
MANY
EXAMPLES OF
ONOMATOPOEIA
AS YOU CAN
Onomatopoeia: Words
that make or suggest the
sound of what they mean
e.g. ‘sizzling’ and
‘hissing’.
The kettle descants to a cosy drone,
And the young wife looks at her husbands 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.
What is ironic
about the poem?
Task One:
Select the two words that you find most
striking in the poem. Underline them and
discuss what they suggest with your
neighbour.
Task Two:
Write three sentences, (one of which
must begin with a subordinate clause)
predicting what happens after the tea
party.
In the reading exam, you maybe
given a poem. In order to
understand it, you must read
to the punctuation. This means you
should not stop at the end of
lines unless there is a comma
or full stop.
YOUR TURN:
With your neighbour
practise reading through the
poem expressively. Pause only at
the punctuation; emphasise
key words and sound effects.
The kettle descants to a cosy drone,
And the young wife looks at 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.
On your own, write brief answers to the
following questions:
1.How does the wife feel?
2.Does she know what is going on?
3.How does the husband feel?
4.How does the other woman feel?
5.Why do you think she did
not marry the man?
6. How does the guest
look at the man and wife?
‘At Tea’: a dramatisation
Now, try to dramatise this poem.
Ideas:
Give each of the three characters dialogue to say, perhaps using some of the words found in
the poem. You can start with a flashback, taking the audience back to some previous
encounter between the characters. You could also dramatise what might happen next
between these characters, for instance if the young woman were to reveal something of their
previous relationship, or the husband inadvertently betrayed his feelings for his former
love.
Another idea is to pause the dialogue and freeze the action while another voice speaks the
character’s real thoughts.
The point is to bring the poem to life.
First of all, write a script, which you will, on Monday, discuss with your group.
An example of a flashback
Esme: But Cuthbert, my dress has been made! The wedding cake is being
iced even now… and suddenly you tell me that (eyes wide with shock)… that
you are marrying someone ELSE?
Cuthbert (with some difficulty): Esme, now you know I cannot refuse my
father’s instructions, even in matters of love. (Clears throat.) You will find
another… in time… Prudence and I will remain your friends. You are
welcome to come to tea at any…
Esme (aghast): Prudence! Cuthbert, you cannot seriously mean to wed that
smug little dormouse of a woman! Besides, there is something I must tell
you, something I have not revealed before, but which means we must marry.
I am …
An example of ‘subtexting’ – including a character’s inner thoughts,
alongside their words – and of incorporating the words of the poem:
Prudence:
Esme, my dear. Do have another cup of tea.
Prudence’s inner voice: But why is she here still? She didn’t even trouble to attend our
wedding . I’ll bet she’s impressed by our new antimacassar, though. And she won’t have
bone china like this at home.
Cuthbert: I believe that Esme has things to do today. Please, my dear, do not let us
detain you longer than is necessary.
Cuthbert’s inner voice: I don’t like this situation at all. How much does Prudence know
about us? I must say, though – Esme does look all abloom today. I’m beginning to
recall why…
Esme It is not for the pleasure of seeing you both that I have come today. I have,
instead, something to announce.
Cuthbert drops his tea cup, which smashes with a resounding tinkle.
Cuthbert (spluttering):
But Esm… I mean Miss Gaskell… Surely you have things to
do today. Please don’t let us detain you.
Prudence (calling out through the open door): Susan! Do come quickly! Mr Thackeray
has made a dreadful mess of the carpet.
Esme (putting down her tea cup and speaking levelly and calmly) Yes, Prudence. This
would be typical of you, wouldn’t it, to worry more about your so, so expensive rug while
your husband pines quite away for a love that is unfulfilled.
Prudence (after a pause): I think you are rather presumptuous, Miss Gaskell. And in any
case, what can you mean? Cuthbert and I are very much in love. There is nothing
unfulfilled about our marriage.
Cuthbert (clearing his throat): Prudence, there is something I must announce… (He is
interrupted by Susan, the maid, rushing in .)
Here are two jumbled up PEA paragraphs, in which I write about my play, then try to show what it
reveals about Hardy’s poem. Rewrite them in the correct order as an example to follow for your
own paragraphs. The order is Point/Evidence/Analysis/what it reveals about Hardy’s poem.
b. an urgent plea which must
sound very odd to his wife.
a. I imagine the young wife,
Prudence, to be just as proud
of her new home as she is of
her husband.
e. This is evident when, after
Cuthbert’s accident with the
tea cup, her first reaction is to
wail that her husband has
‘made a mess of the carpet!’,
c. In my play, a lot of the tension comes from Cuthbert’s urgent
desire to be rid of Esme before she reveals something of their
previous relationship.
d. This is her role also in the
Hardy poem, where her
desirability also clearly
represents a threat both to
the husband’s composure
and also, perhaps, to the
marriage.
f. The audience can hear this when he
almost begs her, ‘Please do not let us
detain you’,
g. a complaint which
suggests she is likely to prove
an impatient, exasperated
wife.
h. The ‘happy young housewife’ whom Hardy describes in ‘At Tea’ is, therefore, someone who might easily become
angry were anything to threaten her perfect, new found marital bliss.
On file paper, dedraft and improve either your group’s play or your own original play.
Then, write four ‘PEA’ paragraphs explaining how you have developed these characters, what is
dramatic about your play and what it reveals about Hardy’s poem.
Point
Evidence
Analysis
Revealin
g what
about the
Hardy
poem?
Point
Evidence
Analysis
Revealin
g what
about the
Hardy
poem?
In my play, a lot of the tension comes from Cuthbert’s urgent desire to be rid of Esme
before she reveals something of their previous relationship. The audience can hear
this when he almost begs her, ‘Please do not let us detain you’, an urgent plea which
must sound very odd to his wife. This is her role also in the Hardy poem, where her
desirability also clearly represents a threat both to the husband’s composure and also,
perhaps, to the marriage.
I imagine the young wife, Prudence, to be just as proud of her new home as she is of
her husband. This is evident when, after Cuthbert’s accident with the tea cup, her
first reaction is to wail that her husband has ‘made a mess of the carpet!’, a complaint
which suggests she is likely to prove an impatient, exasperated wife. The ‘happy
young housewife’ whom Hardy describes in ‘At Tea’ is, therefore, someone who might
easily become angry were anything to threaten her perfect, new found marital bliss.
On file paper, dedraft and improve either your group’s play or your own original play.
Then, write four ‘PEA’ paragraphs explaining how you have developed these characters, what is
dramatic about your play and what it reveals about Hardy’s poem.
Point
Evidence
Analysis
Revealin
g what
about the
Hardy
poem?
In my play, a lot of the tension comes from Cuthbert’s urgent desire to be rid of Esme
before she reveals something of their previous relationship. The audience can hear
this when he almost begs her, ‘Please do not let us detain you’, an urgent plea which
must sound very odd to his wife. This is her role also in the Hardy poem, where her
desirability also clearly represents a threat both to the husband’s composure and also,
perhaps, to the marriage.
On file paper, dedraft and improve either your group’s play or your own original play.
Then, write four ‘PEA’ paragraphs explaining how you have developed these characters, what is
dramatic about your play and what it reveals about Hardy’s poem.
Point
Evidence
Analysis
Revealin
g what
about the
Hardy
poem?
I imagine the young wife, Prudence, to be just as proud of her new home as she is of
her husband. This is evident when, after Cuthbert’s accident with the tea cup, her
first reaction is to wail that her husband has ‘made a mess of the carpet!’, a complaint
which suggests she is likely to prove an impatient, exasperated wife. The ‘happy
young housewife’ whom Hardy describes in ‘At Tea’ is, therefore, someone who might
easily become angry were anything to threaten her perfect, new found marital bliss.
The kettle descants to a cosy drone,
And the young wife looks at 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.
Imaginative Writing
The poem suggests a lot but does not reveal anything
about
The poem as it stands will not work as drama: it is silent
and is almost like a series of stage directions for a mime.
All the tension and conflict are under the surface. Using
the characters and the implied story in the poem, in
drafting books write a dramatic sketch which in some way
develops the scenario. It is possible to make this funny
or serious.
Some suggestions for starting
Create a character analysis for each role. Consider their
past, present and future. Start with age, location and
place in time, moving on to likes and dislikes, appearance,
personality, ambition and opinions.
Remember that Hardy was a contemporary of Maupassant
– that is, he lived at the same time. His characters would
likely be very like those we have found in ‘The Jewels’ and
‘A Ruse’, sharing the same sorts of opinions and view of
the world.
Show how well you can write: have all characters speak
for several sentences at a time.
Speech realism
Comedy or dramatic intensity and pathos
Use of the detail from poem.
Effective beginning, middle and end.
Good drama depends upon conflict – between characters;
spoken or unspoken; between ideas; within characters.
How will you achieve this sense of drama?
Drama of revelation, discovery, surprise etc
More suggestions:
Write this as a script for a mime or ‘dumbshow’ in which
the story is conveyed through movement.
Gradually introduce lines.
Imagine a scene from the characters’ lives after twenty
years have passed. You could include this as a flashback
or continuation. How have events changed them?
Alternatively, or as well, write one of the scenes from the
characters’ past, or the scene just before the action of
the poem starts.
Write a monologue for one of the characters and include
it in the script to show character development.
In a play such as this, silence will play a big part. Think
about how to express or create drama through silence.
Precise stage directions will, equally, be essential.
Cuthbert drops his tea cup, which smashes with a resounding tinkle.
Cuthbert (spluttering):
But Esm… I mean Miss Gaskell… Surely you have things to
do today. Please don’t let us detain you.
Prudence (calling out through the open door): Susan! Do come quickly! Mr Thackeray
has made a dreadful mess of the carpet.
Esme (putting down her tea cup and speaking levelly and calmly) : Yes, Prudence. This
would be typical of you, wouldn’t it, to worry more about your so, so expensive rug while
your husband pines quite away for a love that is unfulfilled.
Prudence (after a pause): I think you are rather presumptuous, Miss Gaskell. And in any
case, what can you mean? Cuthbert and I are very much in love. There is nothing
unfulfilled about our marriage.
Cuthbert (after a long pause and clearing his throat): Prudence, there is something I
must announce… (He is interrupted by Susan, the maid, rushing in .)