I have to summarize the meaning of several Robert Browning Poems. I need help with 4 of them.
Meeting at Night
Life In A Love
Prospice
The Lost Mistress

Meeting at Night - sailor gets lucky on shore
Life In A Love - I am stalking you
Prospice - Still stalking and I don't wanna just be friends, forget it
The Lost Mistress - No it ain't over yet, no matter what you say!

I want to know to the meanig of Meeting at night by Robert Browning

Watinee, go here:

[homepages.wmich.edu] />

Les

I need some help on the meaning of WHen I was one-and-twenty, Houseman.

thanks

Valbona,

It helps to post a new topic on its own thread.

When I was one-and-twenty
-AE Housman


WHEN I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
‘Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free.’
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
‘The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
’Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.’
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.

The narrator is thinking about advice he got from someone else. The advice- Do anything EXCEPT fall in love. The young narrator didn't take that advice, and now he regrets it. Clearly, he's been dumped.

pam

Just to add to what Pam has said about the Housman poem, the poem speaks not just about love. This statement:

The narrator is thinking about advice he got from someone else.

The idea can be generalized to mean that young people often fail to take advice about many things, not necessarily just love.


Les

And I am two-and-twenty,

Indicates tongue in convex cheek.

I'm not sure that I'd take that meaning, but that's why this isn't an exact science. (I admit, I never saw Stopping by Woods as suggesting suicice, either)

One other thing I'd note is how valuable Housman sees love as being. You can give away any number of lesser-valued things- money, jewels, crowns, but not your heart- that would cost too much.

pam

I've seen suggested somewhere (print, not net) that all this twenty-one twenty-two imagry in Houseman comes from playing pontoon duing the war.

Prospice is simply about Robert Browning conquering life after his wife Elizabeth died. After she died, a few months later, he wrote that poem to declare that he wasn't afraid to die.

i love you guys

Can anyone direct or inform me of a detailed analysis of Robert Browning's poem; A light Woman.
Cheers

From [www.gutenberg.org] />
NOTES:

"A Light Woman" is the story of a dramatic situation brought
about by the speaker's intermeddling to save his less sophisticated friend from a light woman's toils. He deflects her interest and wins her heart, and this is the ironical outcome: his friendly, dispassionate act makes him seem to his friend a disloyal passion's slave; his scorn of the light woman teaches him her genuineness, and proves himself lighter than she; his futile assumption of the god manoeuvring souls makes the whole story dramatically imply, in a way dear to Browning's heart, the sacredness and worth of each individuality.

[I cannot agree with Porter and Clarke's estimate of the speaker's act as "friendly, dispassionate." They fail to take into account his supercilious attitude toward the man he calls his friend, and he proves to be more self-serving--and more self-deceiving--than they are willing to admit. That is why it is a subject made to Browning's hand.--Editor of the PG text]

Cheers mate'

hi,
im also looking for a complete analysis of robert's poems: prospice, meeting at night , parting at morning ,incident of a french camp
if u find any material abt them plz do send me too..
iv gotta prepare for xamz too so plz hurry
adios

i have some problem with the meaning of " to build a fire". is it the man that fails in the struggle with nature?
please help me . thank you

Are you thinking of Jack London?

can someone clarify "prospice"? by browning

can someone clarify "prospice" by browning?

mj, the poem which can be found at the site below is about a man facing death:

[eir.library.utoronto.ca] />

Les

i am trying to find a metaphors in this poem, prospice, and am having trouble.

Hey, no switching nyms! The hotmail is a dead giveaway, ya know.

The power of the night, the press of the storm,
The post of the foe;
the Arch Fear

Whaddya think - are these terms metaphors for Death? Or dying perhaps?

Though a battle's to fight ere the guerdon be gained

A guerdon is a reward, so guerdon be gained could be a metaphor for 'winning'?

The black minute's at end

Your turn - what could 'black minute' represent? And ... what does Prospice mean?

pls send me as soon as possible the analysis of prospice of robert browning now......pls.....

Sure, Anne, would you like some anchovies with that?


Les

please send me the complete explanation of the poem The Patriot by Robert Browning. I could not understand the poem at all.

Thanking you,

Regards,

Alpana

The Patriot - An Old Story

I

It was roses, roses, all the way,
With myrtle mixed in my path like mad.
The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway,
The church-spires flamed, such flags they had,
A year ago on this very day!

II

The air broke into a mist with bells,
The old walls rocked with the crowds and cries.
Had I said, "Good folks, mere noise repels -
But give me your sun from yonder skies!"
They had answered, "And afterward, what else?"

III

Alack, it was I who leaped at the sun,
To give it my loving friends to keep.
Nought man could do have I left undone,
And you see my harvest, what I reap
This very day, now a year is run.

IV

There's nobody on the house-tops now -
Just a palsied few at the windows set -
For the best of the sight is, all allow,
At the Shambles' Gate - or, better yet,
By the very scaffold's foot, I trow.

V

I go in the rain, and, more than needs,
A rope cuts both my wrists behind,
And I think, by the feel, my forehead bleeds,
For they fling, whoever has a mind,
Stones at me for my year's misdeeds.

VI

Thus I entered Brescia, and thus I go!
In such triumphs, people have dropped down dead.
"Thou, paid by the World, - what dost thou owe
Me?" God might have questioned; but now instead
'Tis God shall requite! I am safer so.


Sounds like Jesus Christ, what with the myrtle and bleeding forehead (from the crown of thorns), but more likely:

[en.wikipedia.org] />
Could be Arnold is being compared to Christ?

Shambles' Gate eludes me. I trow means I trust. Requite is to repay. Browning did several 'dramatic romances' like this, along with many dramatic monologs (look them up).

Shambles = butchers. They were restricted to one area at the edge of town because they slaughtered their own beasts, and left the place in a mess after cutting up the carcass.

Thanks. Yeah, I saw that one, but I thought shambles might also be one who walks with a shamble. Like in London, there is/was a Cripple's Gate (no pun intended I am sure).

[tinyurl.com] />
Prolly no matter to follow his drift, but interesting usage.

Gate is road in that context, not entrance. Entrance is bar. They derive from the viking settlements, there are quite a few in York for instance.

Having trouble with Parting at Morning by Robert Browning > could anbody help me please ??
Thanks a lot ^^

Did you also read "Meeting At Night"? They are companion poems.

I like the poem very much ( Meeting at night) It is difficult to think that a man is so much romantic is not ?thank you

could somebody plz help me clarify the analysis for andrew marvells bermudas as well as the riddle of the world by alexander pope or robert frosts canis major

[tinyurl.com] />
[tinyurl.com] />
[members.tripod.com] />
I disagree with this one, since I see it as another light verse by RLF.


Canis Major

The great Overdog,
That heavenly beast
With a star in one eye,
Gives a leap in the east.

He dances upright
All the way to the west
And never once drops
On his forefeet to rest.

I'm a poor underdog,
But tonight I will bark
With the great Overdog
That romps through the dark.


That is to say, his romp will be in the hay.

I hate it when they describe something as Clearly, obviously, etc., when it is not so at all. For example:

"Clearly, the dog is in a state of cosmic celebration."

what the heck is a state of cosmic celebration? If it is an euphemism for sex (just look at the picture!), yes he might be right. But I think the obvious should be cut and pasted elsewhere.

to romp: To play or frolic boisterously.

could someone please send me a complete analysis of "Meeting at Night" and also "Parting at Morning"?

In the poem " How they brought the good news from Ghent to Aix" Please explain the last Paragraph.
1. Who is Roland?
2. "As I sat with his head twixt my knees on the ground"
a. Who does he refer to?
3. Explain the verses
Which(the burgesses voted by common consent)
Was no more than his due who brought good news from Ghent.

the poem has been discussed here.
<[www.emule.com] />
here's a link to the poem:
[www.emule.com] />
1. it is his horse. (stout galloper)
2. the horse is dying. So it is lying on the ground, and its rider (the person from whos point of view the story is told) holds it and gives it some wine.
Because horses in the wild are hunted creatures, they can actually run themselves to death. At one point their heart will give up, but I suppose it is always better than being torn apart by a tiger).
a. the horse
3. The citizens (old fashioned word) all agreed upon it.
He, who brought the good news from Ghent (so, the horse!) deserved it. (where it is the last bit of wine).

Personally, I think the horse would have preferred water, but in those times, it may have been hard to tell the two apart ;-)

What happened to the other two riders Joris and Dirck?
In the line "As I sat with his head twixt my knees on the ground"
My teacher said It was Joris who lay with his head twixt my knees on the ground.
I think she said it wrong.
And she said Burgeses were representatives of a corporate town in a british parliament.

THe horses of Joris and Dirck (the other two messangers) died earlier. So, they are not there, so your teacher is definately wrong. You don't know the name of the speaker. But joris was another messenger. The one between the knees is the horse Ronald, the horse of the speaker.

burgess (from [dictionary.reference.com] /> 1. A freeman or citizen of an English borough.
2. A member of the English Parliament who once represented a town, borough, or university.
3. A member of the lower house of the legislature of colonial Virginia or Maryland.

So, it can be either. I fell for the first option (a citizen who is entitled to vote) as it resembles the dutch "burger" which is exactly that, and not the second option. So, in this case, I would find it strange browning uses an english term for a Dutch (or by now belgian) city. (We do NOT have an english parliament.... ;-) ) But it's possible he used it to describe the belgian counterparts with the term.

In the animated movie, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, the 'mayor' of the town is named or called Burgermeister Meisterburger. (of no use to anyone, but it popped into my head) I think RLS meant it as 'town leaders.'

The 'which the burghers' is referring, as Desi says, to the 'last measure of wine' that the horse is being given.



pam

Burgermeister Meisterburger

uh. Funny! Burgemeester is mayor in Dutch, Burgemeister is german I think.

Meisterburger would be master citizen.

Could somebody PLZ help me^^

In the poem Parting at Morning by Robert Browning

1) At which time of day does the action in the poem take place?

2)Think about the title of the poem .Suggest a different title for the poem.

3)What emotion could be described in the last line of the poem?

4)The subject of the poem?

5)What diction has the poem used in?

6)Wrute down therr connotation foe word "gold"

7)What could the "path of gold" in the third line of the poem be?

8) What thing has the poem called "him"?

THX

Cecilia, there is some discussion of 'Parting at Morning' in an earlier thread.

[www.emule.com]

When you have read that, why don't you see which of those questions you can answer yourself, and then come back re the ones you are stuck on.

"In the poem Parting at Morning by Robert Browning

1) At which time of day does the action in the poem take place?"

can you please read these two again?? Carefully??? You don't even need to read the poem to find the answer.

Oh, heck, and all this time I thought he was talking about the girl's knees.