Meeting At Night Analysis

I.



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!

.: :.

you guys, pay attention on the "A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
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

.: :.

you guys, pay attention on the "A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
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

.: :.

Serenity and passion in 2 lovers meeting is demonstrated with the use of imagery and a rolling rhyme scheme in Robert Brownings "Meeting at Night".

| Posted on 2009-10-11 | by a guest

.: :.

I think this poem is about a lover who is trying to find his love but has a long way to go!!! at the end when they meet ofcorse they must of had huged each other so hard that they could feel each other heart beat.

| Posted on 2009-10-04 | by a guest

.: :.

most have alrady said it. its most likely about a man and his lover, the poem tells about the journy to get to his lover. thus creating the name of the poem, meeting at night

| Posted on 2009-07-17 | by a guest

.: :.

I believe this poem is simply about a man meeting his lover in the night. Most of the poem is using imagery and descriptions to tell the journey of the man.
The only reason why I think this poem is more on the "cleaner" side is because I first found it in a children poem book.

| Posted on 2009-06-13 | by a guest

.: :.

POETRY IS FOR PPL THAT CAN ACTUALLY ANALYZE IT CORRECTLY! IT'S NOT FOR PERVERTS THAT ARE LOOKING TO SAY THE WORD SEX IN A SCENTENCE

| Posted on 2009-05-04 | by a guest

.: :.

I came looking for the meaning of the poem.You guys are all crazy and have too much time on your hands.

| Posted on 2009-03-31 | by a guest

.: :.

The poem may be interpreted as a way of a man expressing all of what he would do for a woman.
"Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears"
...
"Ain't no mountain high
Ain't no vally low"
almost as if he is talking to his lover expressing all he would do for her.
The poetic form also contributes to the poem as a whole because it can be read rhythmically as if the poem is footsteps.

| Posted on 2009-03-30 | by a guest

.: :.

In ways every opinion of this poem can be true. It is how you look at it and interprete it. I'm in highschool and have to write an analysis and this has helped me because it showed me the different possible interpretations, and helped me make my own.
Personally, I see it as the long journey a man has to take to find the one he loves. The joy, the hardship to find what you've been running towards. The imagery of what is going on around him is fleeting and short. Because in his rush to meet his love it does not matter. And isn't it true that with love, comes sex? It's naive and ignorant to think that there is only one way to read a poem.

| Posted on 2009-03-16 | 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.

| Posted on 2008-12-09 | by a guest

.: :.

Young one+
i'm supposed to do a project on this poem. i really appreciate everyones input. im not skilled in poetry or anything. i honestly thought this was about an immegrant or something trying to get to his lover, i dont know Brownings life like you guys do. Most of these make sense to me. I think im going to go the relationship way. ill have to read on Brownings history.thanks again=]
+young one

| Posted on 2008-11-13 | by a guest

.: :.

Ok, so i don't think this poem is about sex at all... you guys are seriously reading too far into it. yes, at the end of the poem it does imply something about lovers, but the rest just describes the speaker's journey to the farm to meet his true love. jeez, say something about sex and everyone starts thinking about it.

| Posted on 2008-11-12 | by a guest

.: :.

[quote]Wow. that dude 2nd from the bottom is a freakish, insane, and devilishly horny rapist. Get your thoughts straight porky the pig. I know you want some of that in your life, but leaving comments like that is gonna get you nothin more than your hand and some lube. PEACE![/quote]
How old are you? Jesus man, he calmly explained and supported his view of the poem and you had the idiocy to call him a freak. It might not even be a male, could be a female. That'd mess you up, right? The poem clearly conveys a lot of sexualised imagery, in the very language itself.

| Posted on 2008-10-15 | by a guest

.: :.

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!!

| Posted on 2008-08-25 | by a guest

.: :.

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!!

| Posted on 2008-08-25 | by a guest

.: A few other ideas.. :.

Meeting at Night/Parting at Morning should also be considered in the context whence it was written. The industrial revolution had a great impact on Browning's work, as with most authors at the time (think Wordsworth's works which regard nature as divine), and this is a good line to further analyse.
Also, notice how so many of Browning's women are passive? In this poem we have no female response, both pieces are written from the male perspective. As he goes off to the "world of men" why do we get no indication of the woman's actions?
Think also of works such as Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess, more passive women in those poems too!

| Posted on 2008-05-30 | by a guest

.: Slob on my Knob :.

ummm...blow me. i dont need your stupid comments on how everything is about sex. even though it probably is, none of you get any sex anyways. whatever losers

| Posted on 2008-05-18 | by a guest

.: :.

Robert Browning was courting Elizabeth Barret when he wrote this poem. Elizabeth Barret was secretly engaged to Browning, because her father was against her marriage. I believe this poem is a reflection of his meetings with Elizabeth and his love for her. Also, to really understand the situation, you need to read "Parting at Morning" the sequel poem, which shows his resignation and acceptance of the situation knowing that one day they'll be together.

| Posted on 2008-05-12 | by a guest

.: Love Browning! :.

i believe that this poem id about so much more than sex, although i believe that romance is definetley an aspect of the poem. The poem is full of yearning yet acceptance. i think one must really understand the second sister poem 'Parting at Morning'to really appreciate the first 'Meeting at Midnight'. I would like to put forward that the persona in the poem may be beneath the love he is going to meet, hence the need for secrecy but must then return to 'the world of men'to earn his living... just a theory.
I love this poem!

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

.: :.

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

.: OMFG :.

Wow. that dude 2nd from the bottom is a freakish, insane, and devilishly horny rapist. Get your thoughts straight porky the pig. I know you want some of that in your life, but leaving comments like that is gonna get you nothin more than your hand and some lube. PEACE!

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

.: ur all dumb as dorknobs!! :.

Ha im nuts, eh? Well you keep on goin the way ur goin bud. Ought to end you up some where, like in a fricken cardboard box! And if this is someone from my highschool, thank you for caring enough to reply to my comments

| Posted on 2008-04-17 | by a guest

.: Metting at Night :.

Murder? Spy on the boat?
Um.... Yeah this is a love poem, so um yeah, your nuts. Anyway. Your the one Obessed with sex. Anywho, here is my interpretation.
I believe that it coult be about sex, since talking about sex was a little taboo at the time and it is well known that many poets and writers of the time worked 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

.: WHY SEX!!!!!!????? :.

SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX SEX!
WHY MUST IT BE ABOUT SEX! THIS IS RIDICULOUS AND YOU NEED TO GET YOUR THOUGHTS STRAIGHT!

| Posted on 2008-04-06 | by a guest

.: Continued :.

Sex, Sex, Sex that is all you think about. Could the plot be for a murder, and the person who is on the boat is a spy? Im in high school, and it seems that
I know a bit more about the topic than you folks seem to.

| Posted on 2008-04-03 | by a guest

.: Different Assumption :.

Do all the assumptions have to be about sex? I believe that the poem is possibly a plot for something other than you happen to think. Otherwise, it seems rather naive and foolish to believe that the is , no matter what, about sex.

| Posted on 2008-04-03 | by a guest

.: Different Assumption :.

Do all the assumptions have to be about sex? I believe that the poem is possibly a plot for something other than you happen to think. Otherwise, it seems rather naive and foolish to believe that the is , no matter what, about sex.

| Posted on 2008-04-03 | by a guest

.: meeting at night :.

This is a summary of all of the fantastic summaries of this poem. thank you for all of your help In this poem Browning makes an archetype to time by the way he refers to both the distance for the lovers to undertake to get to one another and also time itself; the speaker measures the time before he can reach his lover. However the poem is also an allegory for sex and sexuality. For example in the first line the speaker refers to the long black land which can easily be interpreted for a

| Posted on 2008-01-13 | by a guest

.: TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER!!! :.

It Would be adequate to imply that Robert Browning's Meeting At Night could symbolize a sexually motivated meeting of two lovers. However, It could also sygnify the process of a relationship. By talking about the long black land and the dull grey sea, this could mean that his life is very dull and dark. Then, the man goes through exitement as the small waves crash on his boat. When he reaches the sand, which is warm with the affection that the two have for each other. The fields represent the slow pace that their relationship has taken and the house represents a stable lifestyle that they are able to sustain, and the joys and fears part means that they are happy about what they have done with their lives but fear death when it comes to them. When they die however, they are together again, symbolized by their hearts beating to each other.

| Posted on 2007-05-21 | by a guest

.: Meeting at Night :.

Although the previous two analyses are very different, I believe they are both correct. Why does the poem either have to be about love or about sex? Doesn't the fact that one loves the other make sex all the greater. Also, the poem deals with an important archetype of time. Notice, Browning references both distance and time throughout the poem showing that he is measuring the time until he reaches his love. Much of the poem also deals with the duality of love. Notice that there is two stanzas, there is alliteration in almost every line, and that the punctuation in each stanza is a mirror of the other one. This is multiple layered poem that has multiple meanings.

| Posted on 2007-02-11 | 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.



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| Posted on 2005-10-02 | by Approved Guest