Form and Meter
"Meeting at Night" is written in a very loose version of iambic tetrameter. This means that, theoretically, each line should contain four (tetra-) iambs (a type of beat that consists of an unstres...
Speaker
The speaker of "Meeting at Night" is kind of a Romeo – passionate, slightly daring, always managing to fall for girls whose parents don't like him, but dating them despite all the odds. Yes, admi...
Setting
Imagine the first scene of a brand new movie. The point of view is first person, and it's like you're inside the main character's head, looking out. You have no idea who this person is, or what is...
Sound Check
"Meeting at Night" sounds a lot like a voice in someone's head, almost like a monologue spoken by a main character in a movie that is slightly confusing. You have no idea, for example, what he mean...
What's Up With the Title?
The title of the poem pretty much sums up what happens in the poem: the speaker describes a "meeting at night," or rather he describes all the things he must do to make his "meeting" happen. It is...
Calling Card
The very first lines of the poem give us a description: "The grey sea and the long black land; / And the yellow half-moon large and low." Fair enough, but it's not really clear what this descriptio...
Tough-o-Meter
"Meeting at Night" isn't a very difficult poem. Yeah sure, it's a bit confusing at first, but after you read it a few times (which only takes thirty seconds because its only twelve lines) you reali...
Trivia
Robert Browning is buried in Westminster Abbey, adjacent to fellow Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (source).Robert Browning didn't really achieve any critical success until after his wife, the...
Steaminess Rating
There's no obvious sex in this poem, but there are definitely a few suggestive moments. Indeed, the moment where the boat gets stuck in the sand – you know the part about the "pushing prow" and t...