Meeting at Night: the Lover’s adventurous Sea-Voyage and Secret Meeting

Meeting at Night: the Lover’s adventurous Sea-Voyage and Secret Meeting

Q. The poet-lover’s journey through the sea – describe.

Answer: Browning's Meeting at Night is an impeccable lyric poem of love. But the surprising thing is that the word ‘love’ is not found anywhere in this poem. But we got a nice color of the lover's journey through sea. The lover is crossing the sea. The intense desire to meet his beloved brings the poet out of the house. But he kept it a secret. The poet may think of a lover. So the poet impersonally raises the lover's experience. There is privacy between travel and secret meeting. We can find all the details that are rich in the secrecy of this whole affair.

In the dark night the lover crosses the sea. The gray sea and the long black coastal land are in front of it. The moon in the sky is huge and crescent. The sea is asleep. But the sleeping sea is disturbed because of the lover's boat. The tiny wave jumps. The boat moves forward. There is no one else in the boat except the amorous lover. Uninterrupted silence all around prevails. The poet’s individuality connected to the time, place, and overall travel experience strongly suggests this privacy. Readers even get little to guess about the purpose and destination of the traveler. However, the lover reaches the gulf of his desired destination. He anchored his boat. Then he walks one mile across the beach. The presence of a single person on a secluded beach only intensifies the silence.

Finally there is reunion. But there is no word there either. The lover has complete control over his emotions. Inside, he burns with emotion. But in the window of his beloved's cottage, he only gives taps and nails. And the answer he gets from the inside is the same gentle and wordless. A blue flame of match-stick and a suppressed whisper are all this. In fact, both the lover and his fiancée meet in an extreme secrecy. Only the intense emotions of their hearts express the longing for that union.

Q. The lover’s secret meeting in the poem, Meeting at Night

Or, describe the feeling that the poet has created in the second stanza in the poem, Meeting at Night

Answer: Robert Browning’s Meeting at Night is an animated lyric, but the composition features a dramatic element. However, this drama is performed in the inner mind of the couple. Emotional reaction is the main theme of this poem. A picture of that drama has been found in this poem.

There are two stanzas in the poem, Meeting at Night. The first stanza describes the lover's journey. Here the lover gets a kind of experience. There are two aspects of his mind. With one he deals with the outside world. And with the other he wants to see his beloved how much she loves him. Obviously, he does not take the obstacles in the path of his love. The sea is not an obstacle. Distance doesn't matter. The darkness of the night could not restrain him. The burning fire of love in his mind illuminates the darkness. He crosses the sleeping sea, crosses the desert. He arrives at his beloved's hut.

Let's talk about the feelings of his heart this time. In the second stanza, we have the lover bathed with warm anticipation of love. He is on the doorstep of his fiancée. In his mind there dwells the special person for whom he has pushed all the obstacles. But he kept his emotions under control. He only informs his inamorata that he is very close to her cottage. A light tap or a sharp nail scratch on the window pane reveals the whole story of the action that took place deep in the lover's mind.

On the other hand, the answer of the lover is also very gentle and subtle. She lights the matchstick, the blue flame burns. Then comes a soft and sweet voice. Then comes the warm reception. Then the couple reunited. Two loving hearts throb together. In a sudden reunion, the lover is overwhelmed with joy. But even in the intense moment of excitement, he is in the grip of an unknown fear. This dual reaction of joy and fear captures the most glorious moment of their love life.

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👉 Meeting at Night by Robert Browning - S.A.Q. (Marks – 01)

👉 Daybreak by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - D. A. Q. (5 Marks)

👉 The Sick Rose by William Blake – Substance of the poem