Q. 1. Examine The Last Ride Together as a dramatic monologue or a
dramatic lyric.
Ans. Browning wrote plays. These include Strafford (1837), Pippa Passes
(1841), The Return of the Druses ( 1843), A Soul's Tragedy (1846), Ina
Balcony (1853). But in spite of his “‘unquenchable appentency for drama,”
he did far better in his dramatic monologue than in his plays. The dramatic
monologue is a little drama. It is not the ‘drama of the outer world of
events, but of the inner world of the soul, where nothing is of importance
until it is transfused into a form influencing mind and character’. The
men and women here are usually in a state‘ of mental disturbance or
conflict; indeed they think much more than they act. Browning seizes
upon the particular situation and particular moments and lays bare the
inner mind of the character. Hence the dramatic monologue is often
called a kind of ‘comprehensive soliloquy.”
The Last Ride Together is a perfect example of the dramatic
monologue. Notice’its abrupt beginning: ‘I said—Then, Dearest, since
SES SO une canneennene “The situation just before thé lover begins to speak is
_ hot mentioned but sufficiently suggested dramatically. The young man
had long intimacy with his sweet-heart and had supposed the intimacy
had ripened into love. They used to ride together day after day. Then
one day the girl tells him that she cannot love him. The man discovers
his error. Browning seizes upon this situation and depicts the emotion
evoked in the heart of the rejected lover.” The very soul of the rejected
lover is laid bare and his temperament disclosed. The complex feelings
of the lover—his disillusionment in love, spiritual exaltation, etc., find
fullest expression. The rejected lover accepts his fate in a spirit of tacit
resignation. His heart rises up to bless the beloved:
o since ‘tis so,
Since n 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!
However, the rejected lover gathers his heart together and praysce ae “if you will not blame, |
Your leave for one more last ride with me.’ /
The lady-love waited for a moment. The lover awaits in suspense:
“Fixed me a breathing-while or two
With life or death in the balance:” ;
With the grant of the prayer, he enthusiastically consoles himself:
Land 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 to-night?
The ride begins. The rush of the wind soothes his soul. He dismisses
all thoughts of what might have happened if he had said or done this or
that. He is fortunate enough that they are riding together. He consoles
himself saying that he does not alone fail in his pursuit of love. He finds
all men strive in the world but few succeed. Our execution falls far short
of our conception. The achievements of the statesman, the solider, the
poet and the sculptor are nothing in comparison with his partial success
in love. He consoles himself with the thought that had he achieved what
he aspired for he would have nothing to hope for in heaven. He reaches
the culmination of his arguments. He indulges in fond fancy that they
may be thus riding side by side for ever as two who are known to each
other as old lovers. They will ever remain fresh and new. Their life will
not be changed in its nature but only in its intensity of love.
What if we still ridé 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?
Q. 2. Bring out the Browningian philosophy underlying The Last
Ride Together.
7 Or,
Write a note on Browning’s philosophy of life as revealed in
The Last Ride Together. .Ans. Browning’s genius is dramatic and at the same time metaphysical.
Every poem written by the poet contains a robust philosophy of life.
The Last Ride Together too is raised to a pedestal of great truths.
The poet has a great faith in life after death. He believes in the
existence of God and in the immortality of soul. Death is not the be-all
and end-all of life. It takes us to a new world of perfect peace and
happiness. When one dies, it is better that one should look forward for
further happiness to be enjoyed in heaven. Life on earth is a “broken
arc,” it is in heaven “a perfect round”. The lover in the poem says:
cert Had fate
Proposed bliss should sublimate.
My being; had I signed the bond—
Still one must lead some life beyond,
—Have a bliss to die with, dim-described.
The philosophy of failure and success looms large in the poem.
Nobody can say what is good for us—failure or succes. Failure, the
lover argues, is the evidence of final triumph. Failure here on this earth
means success in heaven. If our soul experiences the supreme joy of the
fullest realization of our ideals, heaven would lose its meaning. It would
then be a dull, insipid existence to live in heaven. Real happiness lies in
endless pursuit and not in attainment. Life is a persistent struggle to
reach our goal in life and this struggle has its continuance in heaven.
The lover thus philosophizes in the poem:
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.
The poem further offers a complete philosophy of love. “Love does
not mean to Browning a gross sensual appetite as it does to Byron; it
does not even mean the rich sensuousness of the Cavalier poets or even
the fine intoxication of the romantic Keats; it does not mean an undefined
reflection of the Platonic ideal as it means to Shelley.” Love to Browning
is an alchemic power which transmutes, etherealises and elevates the
human soul. Love, in his opinion, belongs as much to the body as to the
soul. But it has nothing carnal in it. The lover in The Last Ride Togetherthinks that love deified him, ‘So one day more am I deified’. His lady.
love leant and lingered on his breast for a moment and “flesh must fade
for heaven was here.”
The poet spins out a philosophy of life and art in the poem. Life is
greater than art. The artist only imagines and is happy. But he does never
enjoy the relish of true happiness in living actually a life of joy and
beauty. The lover says:
What does it all mean, poet?
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?
Even the masterpieces of great art, being inert and cold, fall below
the most commonplace beauty of living persons. However, perfect a
work of art may be, we instinctively look at something living and real.
The lover in the poem says:
And you, great sculptor—so you gave
Ascore of years to Art, her slave,
And that’s your Venus—whence we turn
To yonder girl that fords the burn!
Q. 3. Write a short critical estimate of the poem The Last Ride
Together.
Or,
Consider The Last Ride Together as the representative poem of
Browning. . Coote
Ans. The Last Ride Together is a dramatic monologue. The particular
situation is all important here. The emphasis is laid here on the portrayal
of the inner world of the soul, where nothing is of importance until it is
transfused into a form influencing mind and character. The lover has
passed his youth in loving his lady-love only. But all on a sudden he is
rejected by his love. The poet promptly seizes upon this tense situation
of the rejection and disillusionment of the lover. The lover speaks in his
own person. The situation reveals the state of the mind of the lover who
has suffered disillusionment but who does not give up hope.The poem is dramatic as well as metaphysical. Here we have ‘he
glimpses of the Browningian philosophy of love and failure. ‘Love dues
not mean to Browning a gross sensual appetite as it does to Byron; it
does not mean even the rich sensuousness of the Cavalier poets or »ven
the fine intoxication of the romantic Keats; it does not mean an unde ed
reflection, of the Platonic ideal as it means to Shelley.’ Love, t\ the
poet, is a great force which transmutes and etherealises. It has nothing
of the carnal in it. It belongs as much to the body as to the soul. In regard
to the philosophy of failure, the poet says that failure here means success
in life hereafter. Real happiness lies in pursuit and not in attainment.
-Life is a continuous struggle to reach goals in life and this struggle
continues in the next life too.
Nature in the poem always an important role. It is a fitting
background to human emotions. The lover in the poem feels a divine
joy in the company of his lady-love:
‘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!—
The poem is free from the charge of obscurity as is generally levelled
against Browning’s poems. Its style is simple and has a sustained
elevation. “The rhythmic beat of the verse is a fitting accompaniment to
the movement, thought and mood of the poem.”