Stylistic analysis of Robert browning's poem "Meeting at night"

Stylistic analysis of Robert Browning's poem "Meeting at night".

1. Robert Browning (1812-1889) Stylistic Analysis of “Meeting at night” By Iram Akram

2. The gray sea and the long black land; And the yellow half-moon large and raw; 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! Meeting at night

3. This poem is written by Robert Browning. It is a poem of love that describes clearly the man’s journey to his beloved who lives on a secluded farm across the bay. The lover is restless and passionate. The woman is somehow nervous and afraid while waiting for the man she loves. But, upon hearing the man’s tap on the window pane, she is very happy and relieved to see him, which only shows how deep their love and missing is. Theme of the poem

4. Levels of Stylistic Analysis The following are the levels of stylistic analysis that are used to analyze the text. Phonology : Graphology: Lexical level: Syntactic: Semantic:

5. Phonological features 1.End rhyme The rhyme scheme is, in the first stanza – is abccba, and in the second – dedded End rhymes as : Land, sand in line 1, 6 (a) Row, prow in line 2,5 (b) Leap, sleep in line 3,4 (c) Beach, each ,scratch, match in line 7,9,10,12 (d) Appears , fears in line 8,11 (e) This rhyme scheme creates an interesting rhythmic flow that seems to sway the reader back and forth, much like the rhythm of the waves mentioned in the beginning of the poem.

6. 2.Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables of a phrase . long-land in line 1 the that in line 3 fiery-from in line 4 pushing-prow in line 5 speed-slushy-sand in line 6 sea-scented in line 7 to-till and field-farm in line 8 less-loud in line 11 than-the and two-to in line 12

7. There is repeated alliteration of letter “l” in ‘long’ ‘black’ ‘large; ‘low’ ‘little’ and ‘leap;. The letter ‘l’ is a lateral consonant. It is also called a liquid consonant because it is a very slippery sound. The repetition of ‘s’ sound in ‘speed’ ‘slushy’ and ‘sand’. It is use to emphasis the idea of the sea and the sound of the waves and foam. 3 . Repetition And repeats 5 times in the starting line of the poem. Line 2, 3, 6, 10, 11 (this shows that the man is making long time effort to meet his love. Repetition conti……

8. However, the effort is worthy since the man loves the woman and expects fiercely to see her, no matter it’s at night or at day. The refrain occurs at the close of a stanza, where it helps to establish meter, influence the mood of love, and add emphasis. With the usage of end rhyme, alliteration and repetition, the poem creates aesthetic pleasure and shows the feeling of the couple. Tone: The tone of this poem is passionate, because of language used. the waves represent the lover, who is described as being “fiery” which brings idea of passionate into the mind of the reader. When the lovers are encountered a “blue spurt of a lighting match” the lightening of the match is used to symbolize the lighting of the lovers passion

9. Graphical features There is division of stanzas. There is usual capitalization. There is a use of punctuation in this poem. For example: comma, semi colon and apostrophe is used in this poem. The description of the scene on the sea and about the meeting is vivid and attracting. Through the different angles of vision we can just feel like being in the situation, and appreciating the charm of meeting at night.

10. Lexical features The poem is relatively brief; consist of simple specific concrete words, mainly adjectives and nouns, just like a gentle narration between lovers or dramatic monologue. There are 4 adjectives about color as Gray, black in line 1 Yellow in line 2 Blue in line 1 Use to make the scene at night vivid . The beautiful scene symbolizes the wonderful mood of the couple.

11. The poem is full of vivid, colorful imagery; in the 1 st 2 lines, there are three different colors( grey, black, yellow). Later, there are references that clearly suggest other colors(“fiery” and “warm”) come to mind. The presence of colors emphasizes that things are being viewed through the mind of a unique person. Line 1: The sea is “grey” and the land is “black”. The land could be really black, but it seems more likely that it appears black because it’s night time. It’s a way of suggesting the time of day without directly telling us.

12. Line 2: “”yellow half-moon”. The moon does on some occasions, realy appear to be yellow. Line 4: the “fiery ringlets” make us imagin various shades of red, yellow and orange. Line 7: The “warm sea-scented beach” probably makes us think of colors like red, rose, and others, especially considering previous words in the poem like “fiery” and “yellow”. Line 10: “blue spurt of a lighted match” Sometimes matches appear blue at the moment they’re struck.

13. Syntactic features All sentences in the poem are statement just like dramatic monologue, what the author is very famous with. Many short sentences are linked into long sentences with devices of coordination with the usage of and . Line 2, 3, 6, 10, 11 There are totally 5 lines beginning with and. Coordination gives clauses equal syntactic status , and establish peaceful mood. It seems that that man has met the woman at night many times.

14. Semantic features In 1 st stanza, the author uses startled and fiery instead of surprising and hot. The personification gives human form or feelings to the waves and ringlets, inanimate objects to show that the man’s feeling is startled and fiery. In 2 nd stanza, tap, scratch and spurt are gentler, lovelier and shorter in time than knock, scrap and spring. These words can clearly describe the feeling of the couple. The man arrives at just outside of the house, and taps the glass with the love in his heart. When he is waiting for the appearance of the woman, he is very nervous and upset. The woman is also nervous and upset. After hearing the tap, she lights a match to lights the place and feels happy and fears to meat her lover.

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