Meeting at Night :- Robert Browning

Meeting at Night

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!

Meeting at Night Summary 

In his poem, Browning describes the journey to the clandestine meeting between two lovers. The poem is divided into two stanzas of six lines each. The first stanza describes a journey by boat through the gray sea towards a stretch of black land. There is a yellow half - moon in the sky. The speaker sails through choppy waves. Then the boat is pushed up on the soft sand of an inlet. The second stanza talks about the actual meeting place of the lovers. Beyond three fields, a tap from the outside on a window pane and the igniting of a match, announces the arrival of the lover. In the excitement of the meeting, the lovers' hearts beat louder than their whispered voices.