Introduction
Robert Browning’s “The Last Ride Together,” which was published in 1855 in the collection “Men and Women”, is one of the best dramatic monologues, a genre in which Browning excels. The poem explores the psychology of a lover who has been rejected by his beloved, but a last hope in the form of a final wish to have a last ride with her is granted. The unique thing about the poem is not the musings over love, rejection and philosophical ponderings over them, but the speaker’s remarkable emotional transformation—from despair at the onset of the poem to a calm person at the end of the poem.
Central Idea
The main idea of the poem is to show the psychology of a lover whose heart is broken by the rejection of the beloved. But the last wish is granted in the form of a last ride with the beloved. This ride transforms the poet from a hopeless loser to a proud lover. The philosophical considerations of the lover glorify his position as the best in the world in comparison to the achievements of various artists.
Themes
1) Nature of Love and Failure – The main theme of the poem is the nature of love and failure. Failure in love can break a lover to the core of his heart. The narrator in the poem started to face the same emotions. His dreams were shattered, which he knitted with his beloved. The one rejection made his life hopeless. But before it could have been hellish, his final wish to ride with his beloved was accepted by her, and it not only relieved him but recover from the bottom of despair. Now he started to feel like the luckiest person in the world. His achievement as a lover seemed to him as greatest in the world.
2) Everybody faces Failure – Browning talks about the universality of failure. He says through the rejected lover, i.e., narrator of the poem, that nobody is fully successful in life. Everybody faces failure at a certain point in time; hence, the lover should not feel disheartened.
3) Life as a Journey – The ride symbolizes life itself—a journey that moves forward despite disappointment. The act of riding together represents companionship, movement, and experience. Even though the journey will end, it is precious while it lasts.
4) Superiority of love – The narrator in the poem has proved the superiority of love in front of artists. He says that his state being together with his beloved for the last ride is better than the achievements of a musician, poet, sculptor or any other artist or field.
Figure of speech
1) Alliteration – In the first line of the poem, there is repetition of /s/ consonant sound in words said, since, and so. Similarly, there is repetition of distinct consonant sounds in various words such as ‘Deep Dark’, ‘billowy-bosom’d, over-bow’d’, ‘looking and loving’, ‘freshening and fluttering’, ‘brains beat’, ‘should sublimate’, ‘dim-descried’, etc.
2) Consonance – ‘Deep-Dark’ and ‘Billowy-bossomed’ have consonance also along with alliteration, as there are vowel sounds that have changed after the first consonant sound.
3) Anaphora – ‘Repetition of ‘since’ at the start of three continuous lines in the first stanza and ‘what’ in continuous four lines in the sixth stanza.
4) Simile – Western cloud is compared to the beloved, and the soul is compared to a smoothed-out scroll. Hence, these are examples of simile.
5) Metaphor – In the last stanza, ‘life’s flower’ is mentioned, which is a metaphor as a flower is used for happiness, which is, in fact, an indirect comparison between the flower and happiness.
6) Paradox – ‘..life forever old yet new’ has paradox as the statement seemed contrary, but there is an inherent truth in it.
7) Rhetorical Question – There are many rhetorical questions in this poem. In this device, the language is enhanced in such a manner that it seemed a question, although it’s not. For instance, Where had I been now if the worst befell? It is actually not asking about his whereabouts in the worst-case thing has happened. It’s saying that his condition would have been extremely miserable if the worst, i.e., rejection for the last ride, had happened after rejection of continuation of the relationship.
Dramatic Monologue
It is one of the best dramatic monologues of Robert Browning. The single person is the speaker throughout the poem, and there is a listener, i.e., his beloved, in front of him but she doesn’t say a single word. This style of poetry is mastered by Browning.
Structure and Style
The poem is written in heroic couplets, but Browning skillfully avoids monotony through enjambment and conversational rhythms. The language is simple, direct, and meditative, closely resembling natural speech—an essential feature of the dramatic monologue.
There are 10 stanzas of eleven lines each. The rhyme scheme is unconventional, i.e., aabbcddeeec. Irony subtly operates throughout the poem: rejection leads not to despair but to enlightenment; loss becomes gain. Browning’s syntax, marked by rhetorical questions and self-reflective turns, conveys the speaker’s evolving thought process.
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