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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE: 11. IN THE RESTAURANT by THOMAS HARDY

Poet Analysis

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.'



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