Meeting at night free essay sample

The theme of this poem by Robert Browning, †Meeting at Night†, is that to find true love, one will endure tough times before finding the right person. The narrator describes his journey along the beach to arrive at a place where he finds love. The speaker goes through an enchanting adventure and in the end, finds true love like in a Disney movie. Browning’s use of imagery and personification made the poem easy to understand and enjoyable to read. In each stanza, the speaker uses tone and emotion as great poetic devices to express powerful emotion. Robert Browning uses imagery, personification, tone, and emotion in this poem to describe the underlying message in this poem, true love. Robert Browning was born in May 7th, 1812. He was the son of a pianist and a bank clerk. His father, a bank clerk, was also an artist who collected books and pictures. Throughout his childhood Robert practiced music, dancing, and horsemanship. We will write a custom essay sample on Meeting at night or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page By fourteen, he wrote a volume of Byronic verse, but it was never published. Robert’s finest work called Men and Women was published in 1855. Robert Browning’s accomplishments and his use of diction gave inspiration to many famous poets such as Robert Frost and Ezra Pound. The renowned poet, Robert Browning was also awarded honorary degrees by Oxford University and University of Edinburgh. Also, in 1881, The Browning Society was founded to appreciate the poems of Robert Browning and other Victorian poets (Poets. org). Robert Browning’s poem expresses imagery in a very creative and exciting way. First, the beginning line of this poem explains the setting, the â€Å"grey sea† and â€Å"the black land† in the background (Browning, line 1). A reader can get a visual of a pastoral setting because Browning says, â€Å"Three fields to cross till a farm appears†(Browning, line 8). Browning also says, â€Å"And the yellow half-moon large and low† (Browning, line 2), this further paints a reader’s picture by adding the element of it being at night. Lines three and four are very interesting. The author depicts the image of the waves as well; Browning writes, â€Å"fiery ringlets† (Browning, line 4). This shows how the motion of the waves looked and the way it could curl like fire. In the end of the first stanza, he is on a boat arriving at a cove and pushing ashore. Browning wrote, â€Å"As I gain the cove with pushing prow† (Browning, line 5). The boat soon got to shore pressing against the slushy sand, which is another great piece of imagery showing how he arrived at a new destination. Stanza two has a lot of enjoyable imagery and depicts a new setting of the journey. In the beginning of stanza two, he sets a scene of a beach scented like the sea. It seems like the speaker is now traveling by foot. Browning wrote, â€Å"Three fields to cross till a farm appears† (Browning, line 8). The middle of the poem explains tapping on a window pane and being answered by a match being struck. Browning uses imagery to help readers be aware of the beauties that are unmatched against the beauty of true love. By applying personification into a poem, the reader may have new and animating visual references. Robert Browning does just that. For example, when Browning says, â€Å"waves that leap† (Browning, line 3), he is giving the waves a characteristic of a living thing. Another example of personification is when Browning describes that those waves were â€Å"startled / from their sleep† (Browning, lines 3-4). This is another living characteristic because waves do not sleep and therefore they cannot be startled. Personification adds a very imaginative layer to this poem; Browning was able to use it to his advantage help readers see the captivating pleasures of true love. The tone and emotion of this poem is in a progressing manner that reflects the narrator’s longing to reunite with his lover. The tone of the poem gets more exciting as each line is read until the ending. Browning writes, â€Å"two hearts beating each to each! † (Browning, line 12), which is the very last line of the poem, and it concludes that the two lovers finally get to reunite. Emotion in this poem is very subtle. Browning does not ever say the word â€Å"love† but it is very apparent that â€Å"love† is the theme of this poem by using the right words. â€Å"Meeting at Night† by Robert Browning has a feeling of a fairy tale-like story with an ending of finding love. All of the imagery is great, but the real reason behind it all is finding his true love. Each line of the poem portrays a picture of the setting so it is easy to sense the emotion Browning was trying to display. Browning’s use of personification builds on a very visual image of the poem. It literally brings the words to life. The tone and emotion display an enchanting love story all in a few lines. Utilizing the right words help get the sense of excitement and romance. All in all, Robert Browning uses the perfect arrangement of imagery, personification, tone, and emotion to portray a scenic story of true love.