Last Ride Together, The Analysis

I.

I said---Then, dearest, since 'tis so,
Since now at length my fate I know,
Since nothing all my love avails,
Since all, my life seemed meant for, fails,
Since this was written and needs must be---
My whole heart rises up to bless
Your name in pride and thankfulness!
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.

II.

My mistress bent that brow of hers;
Those deep dark eyes where pride demurs
When pity would be softening through,
Fixed me, a breathing-while or two,
With life or death in the balance: right!
The blood replenished me again;
My last thought was at least not vain:
I and my mistress, side by side
Shall be together, breathe and ride,
So, one day more am I deified.
Who knows but the world may end tonight?

III.

Hush! if you saw some western cloud
All billowy-bosomed, over-bowed
By many benedictions---sun's
And moon's and evening-star's at once---
And so, you, looking and loving best,
Conscious grew, your passion drew
Cloud, sunset, moonrise, star-shine too,
Down on you, near and yet more near,
Till flesh must fade for heaven was here!---
Thus leant she and lingered---joy and fear!
Thus lay she a moment on my breast.

IV.

Then we began to ride. My soul
Smoothed itself out, a long-cramped scroll
Freshening and fluttering in the wind.
Past hopes already lay behind.
What need to strive with a life awry?
Had I said that, had I done this,
So might I gain, so might I miss.
Might she have loved me? just as well
She might have hated, who can tell!
Where had I been now if the worst befell?
And here we are riding, she and I.

V.

Fail I alone, in words and deeds?
Why, all men strive and who succeeds?
We rode; it seemed my spirit flew,
Saw other regions, cities new,
As the world rushed by on either side.
I thought,---All labour, yet no less
Bear up beneath their unsuccess.
Look at the end of work, contrast
The petty done, the undone vast,
This present of theirs with the hopeful past!
I hoped she would love me; here we ride.

VI.

What hand and brain went ever paired?
What heart alike conceived and dared?
What act proved all its thought had been?
What will but felt the fleshly screen?
We ride and I see her bosom heave.
There's many a crown for who can reach,
Ten lines, a statesman's life in each!
The flag stuck on a heap of bones,
A soldier's doing! what atones?
They scratch his name on the Abbey-stones.
My riding is better, by their leave.

VII.

What does it all mean, poet? Well,
Your brains beat into rhythm, you tell
What we felt only; you expressed
You hold things beautiful the best,
And pace them in rhyme so, side by side.
'Tis something, nay 'tis much: but then,
Have you yourself what's best for men?
Are you---poor, sick, old ere your time---
Nearer one whit your own sublime
Than we who never have turned a rhyme?
Sing, riding's a joy! For me, I ride.

VIII.

And you, great sculptor---so, you gave
A score of years to Art, her slave,
And that's your Venus, whence we turn
To yonder girl that fords the burn!
You acquiesce, and shall I repine?
What, man of music, you grown grey
With notes and nothing else to say,
Is this your sole praise from a friend,
``Greatly his opera's strains intend,
``Put in music we know how fashions end!''
I gave my youth; but we ride, in fine.

IX.

Who knows what's fit for us? Had fate
Proposed bliss here should sublimate
My being---had I signed the bond---
Still one must lead some life beyond,
Have a bliss to die with, dim-descried.
This foot once planted on the goal,
This glory-garland round my soul,
Could I descry such? Try and test!
I sink back shuddering from the quest.
Earth being so good, would heaven seem best?
Now, heaven and she are beyond this ride.

X.

And yet---she has not spoke so long!
What if heaven be that, fair and strong
At life's best, with our eyes upturned
Whither life's flower is first discerned,
We, fixed so, ever should so abide?
What if we still ride on, we two
With life for ever old yet new,
Changed not in kind but in degree,
The instant made eternity,---
And heaven just prove that I and she
Ride, ride together, for ever ride?

.: :.

the last ride is a sexual metaphor.it means a last sexual intercourse with his mistress.
with this in mind read again and you would agree.

| Posted on 2008-08-30 | by a guest

.: Review :.

The lover hoped to get his beloved, but he gets only the last ride with her. Now he hopes to get her in the heaven. The Heaven has great charm for him. Then He indulges in optimistic thoughts. He compares his lot with others. He considers himself no way inferior to a statesman, soldier, soft, sculptor and musician.It seems by doing so he tries to remain happy and contented with whatever he gets and hopes for a better future. He wants to enjoy every moment of this ride. As it is the most significant and the happiest day of his life. And after this the next meeting is may be scheduled in heaven.

| Posted on 2008-03-25 | by a guest

.: :.

There may be of course something very common between THE LAST RIDE TOGETHER and other poems written by Browning but but still we canmnot miss the contrast. Perhaps in no ther poems of his we ever come across more vividly the self sacrificing nature of the male sex and it certainly makes a difference

| Posted on 2008-01-19 | by a guest

.: :.

This is a dramatic monologue as is most of Brownings poetry. This poem is about a man (who is the speaker) who asks his mistress ( who seems to be the listener but the listner could be ambigius) for one last ride and she agrees to one last ride together. Language in the poem seems to sugggest that he is dying and this is his last wish or that he feels he can't live with out his mistress. the lines are in an aa,bb,c,dd,eee,c rhyme scheme. Part of the men and women collection and browing refers to art and love in the poem which is one of his intentions to explore.

| Posted on 2005-12-06 | by Approved Guest

.: Browning :.

When Browning explored the type of the jealous and possessive male in "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess," he drew on Shakespeare's treatment of this type in the character of Othello and also Leontes in The Winter's Tale. The drama of Othello, in which the misguided hero murders his wife, seems to me particularly important to "Porphyria's Lover." In Othello, the eponymous protagonist is a romantic and passionate figure whose active and impressionable imagination is easily stimulated by Iago's calumny against Desdemona. Othello's romanticism is glimpsed early on in the play in a lyrical speech made as he disembarks after a stormy voyage and is reunited with his bride.

| Posted on 2005-05-10 | by Approved Guest