skills

Simple poem(شعر ساده)

Meeting at Night

Summary and anlysis

The gray sea and the long black land;

And the yellow half-moon large and low;

And the startled little waves that leap

In fiery ringlets from their sleep,

As I gain the cove with pushing prow,

And quench its speed in the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;

Three fields to cross till a farm appears;

A tap on the pane, the quick sharp scratch

And blue spurt of a lighted match,

And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,

Than the two hearts beating each to each!

The grey sea and the long black land;

And the yellow half-moon large and low;

And the startled little waves that leap

In fiery ringlets from their sleep,

As I gain the cove with pushing prow,

And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.



II.



Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;

Three fields to cross till a farm appears;

A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch

And blue spurt of a lighted match,

And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,

Than the two hearts beating each to each!

quote]This Poem is about Robert sneaking out to meet Elizabeth. If people would do their research on the writers of the poetry they are reading they would know that Elizabeth's father did not want her to court Robert or anyone for that matter because of her illness. This poem is not about sex or murder. Its just simp;y about the love affair they had behind closed doors Before they ran away together to get married!![quote]Thank god, for the past two weeks ive been doing a ridiculously hard project on browning and this poem is just about browning sneaking off to elizabeth because as the kind person in the quotes said her father would not allow any man in her life, im not saying any of you are wrong im jus saying, most of you look way to far into it and make it harder to understand then robert probably intended.

| Posted on 2010-04-22 | by a guest

.: :.

There are, of course, innumerable ways in which 'movement' may come up for consideration. Surprised by joy was chosen as an extreme instance, in which 'imagery' hardly gave the analyst an opening at all. Commonly 'movement' and 'imagery' demand attention together. The following is a simple instance:
The gray sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.
The first two lines suggest a preoccupation with pictorial effects, and they invite a languorous reading -- or would, if we didn't know what follows. Actually, an approach might be made by asking how it is that, though the stanza is so clearly Victorian, we could have said at once, supposing ourselves to have been reading it for the first time, that it is clearly not Tennysonian or Pre-Raphaelite. The first brief answer might be that it has too much energy. We are then faced with the not difficult task of saying how the effect of energy is conveyed. To begin with,
the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep
clearly don't belong to a dreamy nocturne. The 'startled', itself an energetic word, owes some of its force to the contrast with what goes before (even though the first two lines are not to be read languorously) -- a contrast getting sharp definition in the play (a good use of rime) of 'leap' against 'sleep'.
It is an energetic couplet. The energy is active, too, in 'fiery', which is apt description, but doesn't reveal its full value till we come to 'quench' in the last line, the most interesting word in the stanza. That fire as well as thirst shall come in with the metaphor is ensured by the 'fiery', and in 'quenching' the speed the poet betrays (he probably couldn't have said why 'quench' came to him) how he has projected his own eagerness -- his ardour and desire for the goal -- into the boat, pushing on with his will, in a way that must be familiar to everyone, that which is carrying him forward. The nature of the energy that thrusts forward through the tranquil night has defined itself concretely by the time the second half of the poem has been read (it must now be given):
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach!
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!
Neither of the stanzas, it will have been noted, has a main verb, a lack intimately related to the mood and movement of the poem. The absence of main verb, it might be said, is the presence of the lover's purpose and goal: his single-minded intentness upon the goal and the confident eagerness with which he moves towards it are conveyed by the overtly incidental, by-the-way, nature of the sensations and perceptions, and the brisk, businesslike succession in which, from the beginning of the poem on, they are noted and left behind. Though incidental, they are vivid, as in a moment of unusual vitality and receptivity, and that this vividness -- it is at the same time a vigour of report -- should carry with it no attribution of value suggests the all absorbingness of the purpose and focus of attention. The succession of notes, in fact, conveys a progression. And the effect of energy observed at the outset derives from this particular kind of movement -- the particular sense of movement that has just been analysed. The movement, of course, derives its peculiar energy from the local vividness, but even such energetic imagery as
the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match
owes something to the general movement as well as contributing, and it can hardly be said that 'quench' in the first stanza (an effect of the same order -- it works along with 'slushy' as well as having the metaphorical value already discussed) contributes more than it owes.
The movement, it might be commented, isn't very subtle, nor is the total effect; and that is true. But the simplicity has its illustrative value, and the poem is an unmistakable instance of a strong realization. Vigour of that peculiar kind, obviously involving limitations, is characteristic of Browning, but is rarely manifested so decidedly as poetic virtue, and so inoffensively to the sensitive.
_
[from "Judgement and Analysis: Notes in the Analysis of Poetry," repr. in A Selection from Scrutiny (CUP, 1968), I.243-244]

| Posted on 2010-03-22 | by a guest

Dang, I thought this poem was about aliens and Nazis....oh well still passed AP Lit and Lang with 5's ;)

| Posted on 2010-02-08 | by a guest

And blue spurt of a lighted match,
"
I think, the person has a kind of a forbidden love,.. He has to cross a sea to meet his lover, and it's done at night when every1 in the girl's village is sleeping....
hayo gimana... bener gak... bener kan...

| Posted on 2009-11-02 | by a guest

.: :.

.Readers of “Meeting at night,” by Robert Browning, often only see the essay as a boy sneaking out to fulfill his “sexual needs” by meeting with his lover at night.
They assume the boy has no other reason or intention for being there other than for his high levels of testosterone. I believe that the essay isn’t necessarily about sex at all but about the man’s character as he goes over water and land to keep a previously spoken promise.
This interpretation of the essay can be proven by reviewing the man’s motives and intentions. In Webster’s Dictionary, a few definitions for character are, “The inherent complex of attributes that determine a person’s moral and ethical actions and reactions” (Websters 3); and “A Good repute; ‘he is a man of character’” (Websters 6). A mans character is based on his morels, values, beliefs, and on how honest his word is. Browning is known for writing poems about men with poor character such as the characters in “Porphyria’s lover”, “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church” and so forth.
But, I believe that although the character in our story might at first be charged with outright indecency for showing up late at night with the benefit of the doubt “A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch And blue spurt of a lighted match,” Browning portrays this man as being a man of his word and a man of great allegiance to truth and all that is good. He shows this by what great steps the character takes to meet his love.
“The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep, As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed I' the slushy sand.”(Browning 6)
Here the character rows through an untold distance of water, only to be met by a mile of shoreline filled with “slushy sand”. Then ‘Three fields to cross till a farm appears” (Browning 8), he crosses three fields of again untold distance.
All of this, in my opinion, is an example for what he has to overcome in order to achieve his goal.

Mhm...i think nephthys has a point. but uhm...don't be too harsh nephthys eh? chill. You're attacking the person itself and not the his/her argument, don't you think?
All those stuff about them being just high school and amateurs etc does not bode well for your argument and it is besides the point as well as irrelevant, not to mention overgeneralizing.
I'm not saying that you're completely wrong or whatever, for some of them really are looking at the poem with the wrong interpretation...but chill...
Anyway,I think you're right that we have to think of the environment when he created the poem as well as his and his wife's life back then.
I also think that it's kinda a rendezvous or a clandestine meeting. But that doesn't mean that it is sex already. It could be graphical, metaphorical, yes, that their meeting is their meeting in their correspondence.
The point is, even if it does mention stuff about 'Meeting at Night' not to mention its partner poem 'Parting at Morning' and the 'two hearts beating each to each,' that doesn't necessarily mean that we should jump to the conclusion that its about sex already.
Sometimes, people do stuff that are terribly useless and petty. They don't really appreciate and not even take the effort to try to think about the real meaning of poems. It just goes to show the reflection of their minds. all they think about are dirty thoughts and 'sex'. They don't even think about respecting other people's work. People like Browning who are apparently a thousand times these people. ~green

| Posted on 2008-05-08 | by a guest

.: Secret Desire( :.

No offence to anyone, but I honestly think people ought to be more matured and try to get a possible interpretation of this beautiful poem by linking it to the literature of that period and not be plain crude. To those who strongly feel that this poem is about murder and spying I suggest you get your facts straight and do some background reading on Robert Browning before you start assuming you know more than anyone else. Your only in highschool and you have alot more to learn wherease some of us are majoring in literature and have much more experience in this feild that yourself. Its ok to come up with new interpretations, as its always great to have a fresh perspective but I think your 'I know it all' attitude is amateurish and completely unacceptable. Anyways, this poem comes from his collection of Dramatic Lyrics and Romances and he was a master poet of the Victorian Age. If you know anything at all about the Victorian age like some of you who mentioned earlier, sex and romantic love were considered taboo subjects. As radical you might be, one can't deny the fact that this poem does have sexual connotations to it. For conservatives please try to look at his poems with an open mind and for those who embrace art for arts' sake, keep it up. Apart from the 2 interpretations below, we might also want to link this up with Browning's personal life. The courtship between Elizabeth Barrett Browning and himself was done secretly and they use to communicate with each other in sonnett forms and romantic lyrics. This could be mirroring his own love story and his yearning to see her and for their grand secret communion. Afterall he did elope with her and this could be something like a secret wish he has subtly expressed in his poem. Just something to ponder over... Cheers. - nephthys-

| Posted on 2008-05-01 | by a guest

in subtle ways to mention sex and talk about sex back in the older days witch spaned hundreds of years.
But i think it's a more of a loving thing then the person who interpreted it as oh yeah he "triumphed"
There is the literal meening that the author went a long way in the middle of the night to see his love.
and i think the person who was saying somethign about the stages of like was getting somewhere, but didn't really complete that thought at all.
And it seemed the ther person who was traveling along the same line would have done really well in expaining it, had they actually finished, then left off int he middle of a sentence, witch is a sham i would have liked to hear their interpretation, since it seems to have been an interesinting view.

| Posted on 2008-04-11 | by a guest

.: :.

Although I respect the previous analysis, I think that it is naive to assume that it is the only interpritation of Browning's poem.
The poem, Meeting at Night, by Robert Browning, is an allegory about sex. The literal story is that of a man who, at night, crosses a body of water and runs through three fields to meet his lover. However, when you look at the symbolic meaning, the actions are not quite so innocent. In the first line, the narrator refers to “the long black land”, which can easily be interpreted as a phallic symbol, and as he crosses the water, the movement of his boat, also a phallic symbol, symbolizes foreplay as it stimulates excitement in the water, “startled little waves that leap/In fiery ringlets from their sleep.” And then his “boat” did “quench its speed I’ the slushy sand,” a physical joining, or an advance from foreplay to intercourse. At this point, the sand has already been established as a woman’s vagina, and he goes on to describe the beach as being warm, which, if taken literally, is odd, for it is night and usually sand is warm only when heated by the sun. Then he runs across three fields, and excitement builds as he races closer and closer to his lover. Then, “the blue spurt of a lighted match,” in the literal translation is the climax and the sign of the narrator’s triumph, and in the metaphorical story it is still the climax, but this time a sexual one. The last two lines are ones that imply a great deal of intimacy, emotionally and physically. Browning cloaked a sexual encounter in one that was seemingly innocent to mock the society of his times. It was completely taboo to talk about sex, but underneath the façade of perfection, there was still scandal.

| Posted on 2007-01-11 | by a guest

.: ANALYSIS :.


Meeting at Night



The title of the poem alone indicates an intention and perhaps a great need to get to “The meeting Place.” The Poet uses imagery that is quite descriptive and eloquent. He manages to turn a gloomy and perhaps scary night into one that is filled with anticipation and love. Perhaps he is frightened by the mysterious darkness and the little sounds that surround his journey, but this is not indicated in the poem.
From the very beginning the tone of the story can be interpreted based on the description of the setting. “The gray sea and the long black land” gives a feeling of eternal darkness and loneliness; the phrase “long black land” emphasizes this effect on the reader. In lines 3-4, it is almost as if the boat surprises the still and serene water, “waking it from its sleep.”
From that point on he is alert and excited about the journey in the night. He describes what he hears and sees and it all seems beautiful to him. This is a man who notices everything around him with a heart filled with enthusiasm.
Robert Browning does a fine job in using imagery to fully describe the scenery and everything around the lover on his journey. The author does not provide all the details needed for the reader to come to an immediate conclusion, therefore putting the job of assuming in their hands. For the poem to be understood well it must be analyzed in depth. The serenity and time of day creates a mysterious atmosphere, questions arise such as “why is he meeting at night?”
Robert Browning takes the reader through a journey with his elaborate writing style and detailed descriptions of the scenery. With Roberts thorough descriptions he illustrates the lover’s actions with detail and the several changes in setting until the very end, where two hearts are joined together in harmony. To better demonstrate the tone, feeling, and psychological state of the characters, Robert puts literary devices to work.
In the second stanza, it seems as though he has wings on his feet. Such a long journey “a mile of warm sea – scented beach, and three fields to cross” and nowhere in the poem is it mentioned that he is tired. He is certainly a very happy person whose purpose is to meet his love no matter what the cost… Neither “gray sea” nor “the long black land” will stop him from getting there.
This poem is very romantic, one could call it a love story, where a “tap at the pane “signaled “I am here, open the door.” Two lovers meet in the night, perhaps not to be seen by anyone, the tone throughout the poem is mysterious, filled with anticipation and a great love. Two people whose hearts beat as one.