The Last Ride Together

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1855

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Poetic Form and Structure

“The Last Ride Together” consists of 10 uniform stanzas, with 11 lines in each. The rhyme is unconventional: aabbcddeeec. The first four lines are a pair of couplets, or two lines that share a rhyme (aa and bb). The fifth and the 11th lines rhyme with each other and envelop the lines and rhymes in between. This makes the fifth and the 11th lines stand out. The fifth line often sums up the previous four lines. The 11th line brings to conclusion the ideas developed in the five preceding lines and maintains the motif of the ride throughout the poem. The complex rhyme scheme, further complicated by the poem’s syntax, reflects the intricacy of the speaker’s thought process and the somewhat meandering nature of his speech. However, the fifth and the 11 lines in each stanza serve as the foundations of the poem’s structure and highlight its main ideas.

Take Stanza 2 as an example. Its first four lines describe the woman’s hesitation regarding the speaker’s request, and the fifth line explains its significance to him and signals her acceptance: “With life or death in the balance: right!” (Line 16). The following five lines express the speaker’s relief and joy, culminating in his 11th-line assertion, masked as a rhetorical question, that he would die happy if this ride were his final moment on earth: “Who knows but the world may end to-night?” (Line 22). If we read the fifth and the 11th lines together, we get the gist of the whole stanza: This ride is a matter of life and death to him, so important that he would gladly accept it as his last experience in this world.

Most of the poem is written in iambic tetrameters, lines which contain four (tetra) iambs or iambic measures. An iamb is a metric unit (also known as a metric foot) which consists of one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable, as in the word “beyond” (be-yond). Here is an example of iambic tetrameter from the poem, with iambs divided with slash marks and accented syllables in bold font:

My mis / tress bent / that brow / of hers (Line 12)

However, this pattern of iambic pentameters, each containing eight syllables, is disrupted by longer lines at regular intervals. Lines 5, 10, and 11 in every stanza consist of 9 or 10 syllables, which provides variations in the poem’s rhythm and prevents monotony.

Syntax

Browning further enhances the poem’s complexity with elaborate syntax, the ordering of words into complete sentences. There are very few short and simple sentences in the poem that correspond to individual lines. One such example is in Line 22: “Who knows but the world may end tonight?” The sentence and the poetic line begin and end together. Much more frequently, a single sentence contains many clauses and develops over multiple lines. For example, Lines 1-7 comprise one complete sentence in which five dependent clauses (five lines repeating “since”) precede the main clause (Lines 6-7) and delay the speaker’s point. Only after we follow the speaker’s reasoning do we find out that he blesses his mistress rather than blame her for the breakup. The syntax corresponds to the speaker’s preferred form of expression: intricate and gradual rather than simple and direct.

Two other devices contribute to the poet’s tangled syntax: enjambment and cesura. The enjambment (French for “striding over”) is the continuation of a sentence from one poetic line to the next without any punctuation. The cesura (Latin for “cutting”) is a punctuated syntactic break within a poetic line. Lines 8-11 include examples of both devices:

Take back the hope you gave,—I claim

Only a memory of the same,

—And this beside, if you will not blame;

Your leave for one more last ride with me.

The dash in Line 8 marks a cesura, which interrupts his meek acceptance of the breakup with the assertion that he will keep dear the memory of the relationship. The strong rhythmic break before “I claim” propels and emphasizes his wish to preserve that memory. At the same time, the enjambment between Lines 8 and 9 (the clause “I claim / Only a memory of the same” straddles two lines with no punctuation) creates a sense of control and confidence as the speaker is about to request the final ride. The softer cesura (the comma) in the middle of Line 10 slows down his speech to make room for gentlemanly politeness (“if you will not blame” means “if you permit me”) before he states his request in a smooth and uninterrupted last line of the stanza. This reveals the speaker’s ability to complete his elaborate self-reflection with a straightforward conclusion. Such use of syntax to underline aspects of the speaker’s personality persists throughout the poem.