19 pages • 38 minutes read
Meeting at Night
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Background
Authorial Context: Robert Browning’s Poetry
“Meeting at Night” is a snapshot of a romantic relationship between a man and a woman at one moment in time, conveying their excitement at meeting each other for a night of love. Browning does not reflect further on the nature of their relationship. However, Browning was a keen and thoughtful observer of romantic male-female relationships, and in other poems, he explored a number of different scenarios that unfold in love between men and women.
In Browning’s 1855 dramatic monologue “By the Fire-Side,” a male speaker sits by the fireside while his wife sits reading by his side. The man indulges in a happy reminiscence of the magical moment when they first gave each other their hearts: “Oh moment, one and infinite!” (Browning, Robert. “By the Fire-Side.” All Poetry. 1855. Line 181). He then declares that she “filled [his] empty heart at a word,” and he will remember this moment always, for in it “[s]o grew [his] own small life complete, / As nature obtained her best of [him]— / One born to love you, sweet!” (“By the Fire-Side.” Lines 53-55). This is the kind of deep mutual love, the poem states, that leads to marriage and lasts a lifetime; it is a union that cannot be broken: “We were mixed at last / In spite of the mortal screen” (“ Unlock all 19 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
Related Titles
By Robert Browning
