Student Question
How does Browning convey that effort matters more than success in "The Last Ride Together"?
Quick answer:
In "The Last Ride Together," Browning emphasizes that effort is more important than success through the speaker's reflection on his relationship. The speaker values the attempt to win his lover's affection, acknowledging that most efforts in life are unsuccessful. He finds worth in the anticipation and striving itself, contrasting the "petty done" with the "undone vast." This philosophical view suggests that the journey and effort hold intrinsic value, regardless of the outcome.
The speaker in “The Last Ride Together ” is not necessarily the same person as the poet. The speaker addresses the poem to his lover as he tries to convince her to take one last ride with him before they part. This ride may literally be a horseback ride, but it has often been interpreted as metaphorically representing sexual liaison. Although the lovers will no longer be together, the speaker is philosophical about the times they have had and reminds his mistress of the efforts he expended in winning her love. He compares romantic contests to other areas of endeavor in life. In their previous rides, he says, his spirit was opened to new ideas, which he calls regions and cities. Most efforts are unsuccessful, and most labor does not yield a product. Anticipating the goal is also worthwhile, he says; the amount that is accomplished is small when...
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we set it alongside to what remains to do: “contrast / The petty done, the undone vast.”
In "The Last Ride Together," how does Browning value attempts over achievements in life?
The speaker of the poem mourns the end of a relationship, and he asks at the end of the first stanza for "one more last ride" with the "mistress." It is the mistress he is addressing; she is, apparently, breaking it off with him.
He hopes for a final chance to feel "deified" just by sitting with her and being in her presence a bit longer. (It is also possible that he longs not just for one last "ride" with her but for one more sexual encounter.) He considers his past hopes and how she might never have loved him at all had he never tried to woo her; she might even have hated him!
He asks, "Where had I been now if the worst befell?" He wonders where he would be now if the worst had happened. It seems better, then, that he tried to win her, because at least he got to be with her for a little while. He did not fail in either word or deed, and there was some success to be had in the striving.