More Browning

The Pocket University selection for September 18th is couple of short love poems by Robert Browning,  they are an 8 line excerpt from "In a Gondola", "Meeting at Night" and "Parting at Morning".

I'm cheating slightly, here.  I didn't get a chance to do Friday's reading yesterday, so I'm backdating this post to yesterday.  Hey, it's my blog, I can do that!

Browning's full poem "In a Gondola" is a discussion between two illicit lovers meeting in a gondola in Venice.  Several references are made to avoiding "The Three". She is evidently married, and has two brothers, and the couple are trying to hide their romance from the three men, who will exact revenge on the male lover if they catch them.  The excerpt for today is the first 8 lines of the poem, which Browing wrote to describe Daniel Maclise's 1842 painting, "The Serenade".  "In a Gondola" is much more interesting in its full version, the excerpt did not touch me particularly.

"Meeting at Night" describes a man traveling to his love, arriving by boat, crossing the beach and fields, and tapping at her window at night. "Parting at Morning" is possibly the shortest poem I've ever read other than Haiku, spanning only 4 lines. Evidently the two poems were published together as "I. Night"  and "II. Morning" in Browning's 1845 book "Dramatic Romances and Lyrics".

Of these three, my favorite is "In a Gondola" once I read the full version.  I liked the other two also, but they did not "reach" me.

Comments are welcome, though moderated.