[اطلق سراب]

Meeting at Night


The gray sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
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, through its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each

الشرح



Meeting at Night
By Robert Browning
The meaning of the words:
Gray: color.
Half-moon: first weak of the month.
Startled: surprise.
Wave: water moving up and down.
Leap: jump.
Ringlets: small ring.
Fiery: full of fire, speedy.
Cove: a part of a land goes inside.
Prow: the front part of a ship or boat.
Slushy: full of water and sand.
Quench: make fewer ponds, things make it less.
Tap: a small nock.
Pane: the glass of the window.
Spurt: sudden flow of things.
Match: lighted.
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Paraphrasing + imagery:
The grey sea and the long black land;
The poet is describing the view in that night of the meeting. He says that the sea was gray and the land was long and black because the lover was afraid that anybody sees him.
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
The poet is describing the moon in that night; it was the first week of the month so the moon was yellow, not completed, large, and low. Here we have a visual image.
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
The little waves were leaping and were led by the star. There maxes were like ringlets as they were a weakened from there sleep.
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.
Here is an image to the water when it pushes the prow of the ship and crease it is speed with the sand.
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Than a mile of beach has the warm smell of the sea. Here we have an image of smell.
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
The poet said that you have to cross three fields till you can find a farm that means the place of the meeting was far from the farmers and houses

A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
When the lover arrived to the place, he made a small nock on the window so his sweet heart knows that he came.
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Than the tow heart beating each to each!
Even that the voice of the window was so loud, so it caused to them many feelings of joy and fear, but that voice was less loud than the voice of the beating of their hearts together.
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Purpose:
The poet is describing his feeling in a journey to meet his lover secretly. He tries to express the various feelings he has, such as romantic love, fear, and excitement. He is expressing his feelings through nature and all it is images as if nature can feels that.
Theme:
The main idea is the deion of the lover's feelings which is fear, excitement, apprehensive, and full of romantic love just before he meets his lover secretly. He expresses his feeling in indirect way. He describes nature from his own point of view