Question

Is "Meeting at Night " a dramatic monologue?

Answer 1

Answer:

Robert Browning published the poem Meeting at Night (1845) early in his relationship with Elizabeth Barrett. The couple had fallen in love soon after first meeting in the Spring of 1845. But Elizabeth's father disapproved of Browning and the pair were placed in a situation which forced them into a clandestine relationship. They secretly married, on 12th September 1846, and eloped to Italy one week after the wedding.

An audience reading Meeting at Night in the knowledge of the contextual background might well conclude that Browning's inspiration for the poem, about a clandestine love affair, had been fuelled by the circumstances of his relationship with Elizabeth.

Meeting at Night by Robert Browning (1845)

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.

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!

Robert Browning's Poetry Critically Acclaimed by Elizabeth Barrett

Going against the grain of the general opinion of critics, Elizabeth Barrett wrote favorably of Robert Browning's monologue poems in her 1844 publication, Poems. Browning wrote to thank her for her praise and suggested that they meet each other. She was initially reluctant to accept and prevaricated. But they eventually met for the first time on the 20th May 1845, at the Barrett family residence in Wimpole Street, London.

Answer 2

Answer :

Meeting at Night by Robert Browning. Meeting at Night by Robert Browning was originally featured in Dramatic Romances and Lyrics, which was published in 1845. ... Meeting at Night narrates how the lyrical voice sails across the sea to reach his/her beloved one. The poem is written in two stanzas of six lines each.