"Meeting at Night" is a poem by Victorian poet Robert Browning, which follows the journey of its speaker to a meeting with a lover. It was published in Dramatic Romances and Lyrics (1845) with an additional "Morning" section (that section was later separated into a different poem titled "Parting at Morning"). Browning composed the poem during his courtship of Elizabeth Barrett, his future wife, who was already a successful poet at the time. Barrett's father did not approve of Browning, and perhaps a hint of this can be detected in the hushed and secretive nature of the "meeting." The poem is unusual for the Victorian era because it is so sensual and sexually suggestive in a time of moral and social conservatism.
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The Full Text of “Meeting at Night”
I
1The grey sea and the long black land;
2And the yellow half-moon large and low;
3And the startled little waves that leap
4In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
5As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
6And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.
II
7Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
8Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
9A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
10And blue spurt of a lighted match,
11And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
12Than the two hearts beating each to each!
The Full Text of “Meeting at Night”
I
1The grey sea and the long black land;
2And the yellow half-moon large and low;
3And the startled little waves that leap
4In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
5As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
6And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.
II
7Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
8Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
9A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
10And blue spurt of a lighted match,
11And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
12Than the two hearts beating each to each!
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“Meeting at Night” Summary
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“Meeting at Night” Themes
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Love and Perseverance
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Meeting at Night”
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Lines 1-2
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low; -
Lines 3-4
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep, -
Lines 5-6
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i' the slushy sand. -
Lines 7-8
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears; -
Lines 9-12
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!
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“Meeting at Night” Symbols
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The Moon
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The Match
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“Meeting at Night” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Caesura
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Consonance
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Enjambment
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Extended Metaphor
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Onomatopoeia
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Pathetic Fallacy
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Polysyndeton
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Sibilance
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End-Stopped Line
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“Meeting at Night” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Ringlets
- Gain
- Cove
- Prow
- Quench
- Pane
- Spurt
- 'Thro
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Meeting at Night”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Meeting at Night” Speaker
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“Meeting at Night” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Meeting at Night”
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More “Meeting at Night” Resources
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External Resources
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"Parting at Morning" — The sister poem to "Meeting at Night." The two were originally sections of the same poem.
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Further Poems and Biographical Discussion — More poems by and essays about Browning from the Poetry Foundation.
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A Literary Love Story — An essay about the relationship between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett.
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Lovers' Correspondence — The letters between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. In the first, Browning keenly praises Barrett's poetry.
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The Poem Out Loud — A reading of the poem courtesy of the Poetry Foundation.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Browning
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