Symbols, Imagery, Wordplay
Form and Meter
As fitting as an aubade with ABBA (the band) would be, that's not what we're talking about here. But what's an aubade? Simply put, an aubade is any song or poem that's about lovers parting at morni...
Speaker
The speaker of "Parting at Morning" is not one of those overly descriptive or ornate dudes you might find in old school poetry. Nope, this guy likes things short and simple. He says what he needs t...
Setting
One thing is for sure: when you have a title like "Parting at Morning" you at least know what time it is in the poem. Once we have that squared away, it's pretty easy to see where we are, whether w...
Sound Check
Just like the speaker sounds as if he's bouncing us along, the overall sound of "Parting at Morning" is upbeat and fresh. The short syllables and upbeat end rhymes (sea/me; rim/him) give the poem t...
What's Up With the Title?
When we think of the title of the sister poem to "Parting at Morning" ("Meeting at Night") we get that the similarities between the two are no accident. They're supposed to look opposite but also e...
Calling Card
We have to be honest about Robert Browning's career, without stepping on his toes of course. Our man is best known, by non-academic folks, for one thing: "The Pied Piper of Hamelin." That's not to...
Tough-o-Meter
We definitely need to know what "Meeting at Night" was all about before we can really appreciate what's going on in "Parting at Morning." Without that info, the poem can sound a bit confusing and a...
Trivia
Did you know that there's a whole juicy collection of love letters sent between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning? (Source.)The Brownings had a sort of star-crossed love affair, since...
Steaminess Rating
"Meeting at Night" is really the sexy one out of the pair, but "Parting at Morning" picks up where that serenade left off. So even if the love making part is over, we still know that this poem is p...