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

2. 1. The gray sea and the long black land;
2. And the yellow half-moon large and raw;
3. And the startled little waves that leap
4. In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
5. As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
6. And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.
7. Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
8. Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
9. A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
10. And blue spurt of a lighted match,
11. And a voice less loud, thro’ its joys and fears,
12. Than the two hearts beating each to each!

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.

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.

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. Cmmoon
nouns
•sea, land, moon, waves, sleep, sand,
field, farm, match, mile, beach, joy, fear
verb
•Startled, gain, quench, appears, scratch,
lighted, beating
pronoun
•I,

12.  The poem is full of vivid, colorful imagery; in the
1st 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.

13.  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.

14.  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.

15.  Semantic features
 In 1st 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 2nd 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.