‘AT TEA’

This is a poem by Thomas HardyThis 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 theirwords carefully foreffect and so it is

important to think aboutwhy they make these

choices and what impactthey have

especially when writingexplanations.

EVERY WORDHAS A

MEANING ANDIS CHOSEN FOR

A REASON

Now lookat this poem and write

down the wordsthat you think

would best fit in the blanks in your

draft books. Selectyour 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 On your own, write brief answers to the following questions: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 ALLITERATIONOR SIBILANCEAS 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

ONOMATOPOEIAAS 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 maybegiven a poem. In order to

understand it, you must readto the punctuation. This means you

should not stop at the end oflines unless there is a comma

or full stop.

YOUR TURN:With your neighbour

practise reading through thepoem expressively. Pause only at

the punctuation; emphasisekey 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 On your own, write brief answers to the following questions: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 dramatisationNow, 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 .)

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.

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.

f. The audience can hear this when he almost begs her, ‘Please do not let us detain you’,

b. an urgent plea which must sound very odd to his wife.

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.

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!’,

g. a complaint which suggests she is likely to prove an impatient, exasperated wife.

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.

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.

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.

Point

Evidence

Analysis

Revealing what about the Hardy poem?

Point

Evidence

Analysis

Revealing what about the Hardy poem?

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.

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.

Point

Evidence

Analysis

Revealing what about the Hardy poem?

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.

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.

Point

Evidence

Analysis

Revealing what about the Hardy poem?

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 .)