i dont know what robert browning is trying to say in this poem.can someone pleaMeeting At Night
by Robert Browning

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!

se explain?

He's rowed ashore, walked along the beach and across some fields just to see his girlfriend.

Right. See also the companion, erm, piece:


Parting at Morning

Round the cape of a sudden came the sea,
And the sun looked over the mountain's rim:
And straight was a path of gold for him,
And the need of a world of men for me.


The sailor leaves the next day.

This is a poem about how far a lover will go to see his/her loved one. In the first stanza the poem states that the author goes across sea and to the shore where he/she walks along the beach in the beginning of the night. The second stanza says that after walking a mile along the beach, he/she goes through three fields to a farm. The lovers experience joy when they finally meet.

This has always been one of my favorite love poems. I used to take it pretty simply -- some fisherman getting home very late at night to his wife, maybe after being delayed by a storm. Which is why there is a hint of both 'joy and fear' in lighting the match. Is it late night good news or bad news, that person at the door?

All the same, that last line is the kicker for me: "two hearts beating each to each." (laugh... or should I say it was 'the hook' for me, as in song writing and fishing?)

Looking at the poem more closely tonight, I have to wonder.

I mean, if the guy was a fisherman, wouldn't he land his boat a little closer to home? Or his home would be closer to the shore? Seems like a long walk! I'll have to ask a Cape Breton friend. I grew up land-locked myself. And why the tap on the window first before coming in? Seems to me the husband story is less likely.

In any case, Dawn, I appreciate your puzzling over the poem. It's filled with images... Browning tells the story using a whole mix of senses... scent, sight, sound, and even heart-beat... but not really a single 'fact.' It's all description without a clear plot line. He's leaving you to fill in the plot. I guess what matters to the poet in this one is the images and the feeling, and the facts of the plot could be anything. Maybe that's his point.

I'll stand by calling it a love poem. And I do think there is some doubt or fear in the woman's mind that she may be about to hear her husband (or lover) is dead, combined with hope and joy that it is him returing. Note it's a quick match, too -- I don't think the person was asleep.

But what do I know? Even still I'm assuming it's a man coming home to a woman, and not the other way around. Or maybe a man coming home to a man! A father and a son? A mother and a daughter? Certainly an important relationship.

Which bring me back to the last line: "two hearts beating each to each."

I like that way of putting it. Not "two hearts beating as one" -- which has been used famously in poems before -- but "each to each." Sure it slows down the pace a little at the end (a romantic calming suitable for this poem), and fills out the phrase (I am not going to count out the sylables and mark their stress!).

I like it because it imples a deep resonance, an echo between the two people. Some sort of deep communication linking them. They may not be uninted in one spirit, but their kindred spirits can and do talk to one another. And what follows unwritten in the poem is a heart-felt, welcome reunion.

You have made some good points there, Doug.

This poem has been discussed before on emule. Try the links given at:

[tinyurl.com]

and some comments about it have also been made in the course of discussions of the sequel poem 'Parting at Morning'. Those can be found by using the emule Search facility, entering "Parting at Morning" [in inverted commas like so] and searching it for 'All Dates'




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2006 06:55AM by IanB.