The Last Ride Together Summary
The Last Ride Together maybe a poem by English poet Browning, first published in his 1855 collection Men and ladies. His first major work released after his marriage to Elizabeth Barrett, it consisted of fifty-one poems, each by a special narrator. it’s considered one among the foremost important works of poetry within the Victorian era. The Last Ride Together may be a ten-stanza poem primarily focused on themes of affection and loss. It takes the shape of a monologue by a rejected lover reflecting on the top of a romance. The title represents the last time the previous couple takes a carriage ride together. Although the narrator does grieve the top of his romance, he wishes to reflect his appreciation for the time that they had together and therefore the love he experienced. The poem has an overall bittersweet tone, balancing sadness and optimism.
In the first stanza, the narrator blames the top of his romance on fate. He bemoans that everything he has tried has failed, and it seems the top of his romance is about. Despite this, he expresses his love and appreciation for the lady he has spent years with, and blesses her name. He asks just for her the memory of the time they shared, and one last ride together with her before she goes.
The second stanza focuses on the woman’s reaction, as she surveys him proudly tempered pityingly. The narrator compares expecting her to answer with life or death, accentuating the emotional stakes that are always at play when it involves love and keenness. within the end, they assert yes, and therefore the parting couple embarks on their final ride together.
The third stanza focuses on the blissful feeling of that last ride, with the narrator waxing poetic about how wonderful the time together feels. He focuses on the sweetness of the environment, the eagerness he feels, and therefore the ecstatic feeling that he feels when she touches him. She has provided him with quite he asked for, and he’s crammed with gratitude for this.
The fourth stanza focuses on Browning’s philosophy of the passing nature of life. The narrator begins to abandoning what was and begins to enjoy what’s. He describes his soul as smoothing out as he lets go of past hopes. He knows that there’s no point in speculating what could are. Things might be better or worse, and instead he chooses to easily enjoy the instant that they’re sharing.
The fifth stanza continues the themes within the fourth, with the narrator contrasting himself with men who strove for other things, and people who have failed. He does this to cover his personal anguish over the top of his affair. He accepts his defeat and expresses his hope for a far better future in heaven at the top of his life.
The sixth stanza presents the philosophical concept a lifetime of contemplation crazy is way better than any pleasures that the fabric world can provide. This stanza contains many allusions and analogies, like comparing the best joys of life to a crown that one can reach. It compares the life of a love thereupon of a statesman and a soldier and comes down firmly on the thought that the lover’s life is superior.
The seventh and eighth stanzas specialize in comparisons of the like to an excellent poet and later an excellent sculptor. The narrator describes the skills of those artists – the poet’s work is defined by how they create rhyme and rhythm, while the sculptor devotes years to a piece of rock and carves something spectacular out of it. He later does an equivalent with a composer, stringing notes together. He compares these arts to the years of his life he gave to his love, attempting to make something beautiful out of their union.
In the ninth stanza, the narrator wonders what fate has future for them, and admits he has no idea what would have transpired had they remained together. He expresses his regret that it’s to finish here but admits that there’s nothing he can do and chooses to abandon, stating that his life together with his lover is now as distant from him as heaven.
The final stanza has him turn his focus back to his lover, as he observes her and notes that she hasn’t said anything during a while. He wonders what would happen if they simply rode forever, together, and this instant they shared was made eternity. that’s where the poem ends, thereon wistful note for an eternity of this moment, without the long term apart that awaits them when the ride ends.
Robert Browning published thirty-one major works of poetry in his life and is taken into account today to be one among the foremost important poets of Victorian England. Despite this, during his lifetime he was heavily overshadowed in fame by his poet wife Elizabeth Barrett. Men and ladies and therefore the book-length heroic poem The Ring and the Book were the 2 works that elevated his reputation and led to him being considered one among the defining poets of the age, and today they continue to be widely read alongside the remainder of his work, although many of his earlier works remain fairly obscure. Perhaps his largest influence on popular culture is Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, which was inspired by Browning’s poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.
