“At an Inn” is a variation on the love poetry of regrets. Regret has been an emotional part of love poetry since antiquity. The premise is familiar. Lovers would come to regret the expression of their fiery passion, a love that refuses to be tidy or logical, a love that may not be sanctioned by their culture, their society, their church, their families, or even their own conscience. This drives the poetry of regret. Characters, sometimes the poet, come to terms with impulsive behavior and accept a loneliness while confessing regret for having loved intemperately, unwisely.

Ever the ironist, Hardy denies his speaker the most fundamental element of the love poetry of regret. His speaker never actually does anything to regret—no assignation, no lovemaking, no rendezvous, not even a kiss. The speaker and their beloved have dinner. The speaker regrets not doing anything about his love and now stews over the reality that their one chance may have passed them by.

The opening two stanzas set up a conventional love poem: Two lovers come together in a quiet, out-of-the-way inn. The poem focuses not on either of the two lovers. The reader does not know their names, their backgrounds, or even their genders.