Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE: 11. IN THE RESTAURANT, by THOMAS HARDY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: But hear, if you stay, and the child be born Last Line: Let us go, and face it, and bear the shame.' Subject(s): Children - Illegitimate; Love - Marital; Marriage; Birth - Out Of Wedlock; Bastards; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love; Weddings; Husbands; Wives | ||||||||
'BUT hear. If you stay, and the child be born, It will pass as your husband's with the rest, While, if we fly, the teeth of scorn Will be gleaming at us from east to west; And the child will come as a life despised; I feel an elopement is ill-advised!' 'O you realize not what it is, my dear, To a woman! Daily and hourly alarms Lest the truth should out. How can I stay here And nightly take him into my arms! Come to the child no name or fame, Let us go, and face it, and bear the shame.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BLESSING FOR A WEDDING by JANE HIRSHFIELD A SUITE FOR MARRIAGE by DAVID IGNATOW ADVICE TO HER SON ON MARRIAGE by MARY BARBER THE RABBI'S SON-IN-LAW by SABINE BARING-GOULD KISSING AGAIN by DORIANNE LAUX A TIME PAST by DENISE LEVERTOV AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM' by THOMAS HARDY |
|