'Meeting at Night', by Robert Browning- An Analytical Study
Hello Friends...
Sure, we all are doing well... Be careful, we must stay fit and shouldn't fall ill getting our studies affected. We shall eat and drink healthy, exercise regularly, and won't avoid our domestic and social responsibilities. And whatever time we get for ourselves at the end of the day, we must study hard for most of the time, so that we learn to think... and learn. We simply cannot afford to stop thinking, for we are learners, and we are the chosen ones who got the scope to learn...
Let's learn to think first...
Who May Benefit from the Discussion
Though it is primarily meant for the students of Class XI, WBCHSE, any student, from any level, studying the poem independently may find the discussion helpful. Moreover, those who are poem-lovers, and read poems for the sake of the pleasure of reading poetry are likely to find on this platform a scope to get engaged in meaningful exchanges of ideas with others.
The Title
Are you already feeling thrilled after going through the title of the poem? Yes, I do agree that the title of the poem is full of dramatic suspense. We all are quite acquainted with the notion of 'meeting', but do we find the rest part of the title equally familiar? At night? We are normally told about the place and time-schedule of the meetings that we are supposed to take part in, but certainly not this way. Here, surprisingly enough, we have no clue to the place of meeting. Should we apprehend that the place is already known to the parties involved? We have no specific hour scheduled for the meeting as well, but almost a half of a daytime of 24 hours!!! Where on earth do we have such flexible meeting schedules? Do you know any such office? I'm pretty sure that even my best friends would not drag their party schedules so flexible, and long, if I fail to show up within a couple of hours of the parties beginning.
Would you like to assume that it's actually a meeting of the burglars? At night? To break into some house to hunt for fortune?
Listening to the Poem May Help
Let's rather listen to the poem first. Hit the link below and click on the play button just at the end of the title. Listen to the reading carefully to get some insight into the poem:
How is your experience? Do you find the hushed conspiring tone of the burglars? Or do you get something else?
Would you like to read to poem for at least a couple of times to find the answers for sure? You are always welcome:
Meeting at Night
 |
Robert Browning- Painting by Herbert Rose Barraud |
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!
The First Stanza
The First Line
Would you like to list up whatever you found interesting in the very first line while reading?
The Sea
How would you like to view a sea, by the way? Blue? How have you found the sea in reality if you've been to a sea-shore ever? Have you ever found a sea grey?
The Land
When and where may we find a landmass black and long?
The Second Line
Not sure about the answers? Why don't we read the second line of the poem once again?
The Time
Yes, the very blue sea turns grey in the growing darkness after sunset. And again, it's in the night when a landmass may seem black, if it doesn't contain some urban pockets. The reference to moon in the second line suggests that the Sun has already set for the day.
Can you make out anything else from the description of the moon?
It is a half-moon, it is yellow, it is large, and it is low in the sky. Do you think the description refers to an early evening-time, not much after the sunset?
The Long Landmass
But, why the landmass is long? Have you found your answer?
The Rest Four Lines of the First Stanza
What else do we have here in the first stanza?
The Waves
We have waves. Sure there will be waves when we have a sea, be it grey, or blue. The waves were fast asleep. For some reason they have woke up. Isn't the implication quite clear that being forced to wake up from their sleep, as they are startled, and leap in ringlets?
What did wake them up?
Have you noticed how the poet has assigned animate features to the inanimate waves to personify them? What is the effect of this personification?
The Fiery Ringlets
Why do you think the ringlets are fiery, by the way?
Sea-water often contains fluorescent elements like phosphorus that may cause the ringlets seem to be bright and fiery in the dark. The fiery appearance of the ringlets may also be the reflection of the moonlight. And it may also be the reflection of the light of a boat passing by. Or, would you like to interpret these fiery ringlets as something else?
The Weather
And, may I ask how is the weather this evening?
What do you perceive if you are told that the waves are asleep? Does that mean that there are no waves? When do we have no wave? Yes, you have got the answer about the weather now. We have no wave or little waves when the weather is calm. It is a calm evening being described here. Do you feel everything else is as calm as the weather this evening?
The Dramatic Elements
Don't you find the last two lines of the stanza interestingly dramatic? We get to see the speaker now, approaching the cove, pushing the stem of the boat up on the slushy sand of the beach.
The Long Landmass
Have you understood why the landmass is referred to as 'long' in the first line, now? It seems long to the speaker in the poem while approaching it from the sea. The coast-line seems to be a horizontal strip when viewed from the sea at a distance.
The Visual
Could you visualise this wonderful sea-scape after sunset? And the speaker rowing a small boat [don't you think that a large boat would have caused larger waves, now, as you've already realised that it is the boat of the speaker which caused those little waves?] towards the beach, and pushing it up on the shore after reaching the bay? Why don't we move on to the last stanza then to find out what follows?
The Last Stanza
The Journey
The Path
The journey still continues even after landing on the beach. The speaker has to cross the mile-long beach, and three successive fields to reach a farm.
The Destination
Is this farm the destination? Is this the place scheduled for the meeting referred to in the very title of the poem?
The Space
And do you get this confirmed by this time that the 'long black land' is never an urban space, but must be a rural, countryside?
The Auditory Perceptions
Are we ready for some gratification of our auditory senses, now after stimulating our visual perception for so long? Well, you might have caught the confused noise made by the little waves leaping into fiery ringlets by your ears. But now, you cannot afford to miss any auditory stimulus. Listen carefully then:
The Tap
The speaker in the poem taps at the pane.
Have you noted that the speaker does not knock? Why do you think the speaker did not knock, but tap?
The Scratch
Can you hear the quick sharp scratch of lighting a match and the initial gush of the flame?
The Voice
Is the voice too less loud [Note again, it is not 'feeble'. Why it is 'less loud' and not 'feeble'?] to perceive?
Are you able to perceive the two hearts, each beating [louder than the voice] to reach the other?
The Other Character
Have you noted how subtly the other character has got introduced into the setting? Else, how can you account for the 'two hearts' at the last line of the poem?
What information do you have about this newly introduced character?
We know that the character is both happy and afraid at the same time, and has got a voice 'less loud' than their hearts.
Have you ever felt the same way, -feeling happy and afraid at the same time? When?
The Context
I guess you have finished reading the poem, but still have many confusions. You need to get your guesses for those unanswered questions verified and confirmed in some way. Why don't we look for an appropriate context into the poet's life,- the space and time he lived in to get our guesses verified?
The Autobiographical Elements
Have you got your confusions cleared up, now that you have read about Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning? Do you feel now that the poem we are studying may have got some autobiographical elements? Even if we choose to keep this issue away for the time being, doesn't it come out clear that the poem is basically a love poem where we have one describing their secret meeting at night?
Do you now realise why here we have the antithetical [opposite] states of being happy and afraid manifested at the same time? The lovers are meeting secretly. Hence they have chosen the night-time to meet each other avoiding the chance of others witnessing them. The speaker has tapped the pane for the same reason of maintaining secrecy. A knock might have created an alert for others. How could such passionate lovers meeting secretly voice their happiness and fear feebly? They are only able to voice their feelings 'less loud' out of the fear of getting caught by others. You may also find the 'fiery ringlets' now to be indicative of the ignited passion of the lovers. The calm evening is set up ironically in sharp contrast with the emotional turbulence that kept the minds of the lovers wide awake.
The Original Poem
You may found this interesting a fact that the poem was originally written in three stanzas [and two sections] by the poet, who later chose to publish the first two stanzas [the first section] as 'Meeting at Night', and the third one [the other section] as 'Parting at Morning':
The Gender-identity of the Characters
Have you wondered about the gender identity of the speaker in the poem? You, a reader of this present time have plenty of valid reasons to identify the speaker as a female, and there are no less reasons for one to identify the speaker as a male as well. Don't you want to know about the perspective of the poet himself? Read 'Parting at Morning' then to get your inquisitive mind satisfied:
The Drama
What is the most remarkable aspect of the poem to you? For me, it is the dramatic aspect. We have characters, both organic [the couple meeting secretly at night] and inorganic [the little waves; don't you feel the personification worked?]; we have a setting defined by a definite space [starting from the sea up to the farm via the beach and the fields] and time; and we have action- the journey, the tap at the pane and the simultaneous [almost] lighting of the match-stick, and the final meeting where the two lovers embrace each other with their hearts beating each to each.
The Brevity
Twelve Lines
And yes, I admire the brevity of the poem as well. The poem, unbelievably, comprises of just twelve lines to cast its magical spell. Don't you find this fascinating?
The Omission of Verbs And the Use of Adjectives
Are you wondering how the poet has been so successful in conveying the whole emotion in the brief span of this poem? Why don't you find the linguistic tricks behind on your own? You may begin with your study of the omission of verbs and the use of adjectives, particularly note how the adjectives describe the noun phrases and add to the poetic function of the language. Let's take the very first line of the poem for instance:
The grey sea and the long black land;
Have you noted that we have no verb here, but still we are able to visualise what the speaker says and get the meaning conveyed. How? It is possible because of the adjectives. How is the sea? It's grey. How is the land? It's long and black. And, it's still away from being reached [the speaker will reach the beach in the last line of the stanza], as suggested by the use of two adjectives as against the one in the first half of the line, thus providing the second half of the line a bit of more length, so that we require a moment more to read it:
The grey sea, and the long black land; [additional punctuation mark (,) is added by me to show you how we are reading and differentiating the different sense groups (meaningful chunks/expressions) in the line.]
Are you able to find out that you take less time to read the first half? It must be so, for we are out there in the sea with the speaker in the first line. And we are going to land on the distant beach where we are rowing to in the sixth line. Hence, it takes a moment more to read out the description of the land which is at this moment, distant.
Would you like to try analysing the language of the poem this way? You may give it a try at least. Listen to the recital of the poem again, and then study the poem closely. Try to get the sense groups identified first. Note how verbs are omitted mostly, but still meaning gets conveyed through the use of adjectives.
The Importance of the Noun Phrases
You may also attempt to judge the importance of the noun phrases getting described, or discussed, by counting the numbers of adjectives or descriptive words and phrases.
The Punctuation
Don't forget to study how we have the sentences [with verbs] in the poem punctuated, and how are the phrases [without verbs],- complete meaningful units here in the poem, are punctuated.
Comments
Post a Comment
Please feel free to share another perspective, suggest an upgrade, and ask for information, or about a doubt or confusion...