Rencontre A La Nuit. (Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker

Rencontre A La Nuit. (Translation) .

I.
La mer grise et la terre longue et noire;
Et la demi-lune jaune grande et basse;
Et les petites vagues surprises qui sautent
En petits cercles de feu de leur sommeil,
Comme j'arrive a la caverne, la proue poussante,
Et je la ralentis dans le sable fondu.

II.
Puis un kilometre sur la plage chaude sentante de la mer;
Trois champs a traverser jusqu'a une ferme;
Une petite tape a la vitre, la rayure vite et abrupte
Et le jet bleu d'une allumette en flamme,
Et une voix moins forte, par ses joies et ses peurs,
Que les deux coeurs qui se battent l'un contre l'autre!

- 'Meeting at Night'. Robert Browning(1812-1889) .

Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Topic(s) of this poem: love
POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
See Poem Hunter/ Robert Browning/83/147 for the English.
The poet meets his lover in a farmhouse room, after sailing in a small boat to the beach. Their two hearts beat hard against each other; they are in love.
The two stanzas have a rhyme scheme: abccba-typical of the early Browning.
Browning had a secret courtship of Elizabeth Barrett, as her father did not approve of him, would not give them permission to marry, so the couple eloped to Italy. Victorian manners were much more conservative than today.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
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