This poem is a dramatic monologue of a rejected lover who
expresses his undying love for his beloved. The title gives the idea that this is their
last time together and the speaker is attempting to live fully in that moment. The poem
appears to suggest that the phrase 'carpe diem' is actually one to live by and that the
speaker will be happy with the memory of this last
ride.
Browning suggests, as he does in other poems, that
the speaker has failed in some way but that this is not important as 'all men strive and
who succeeds?' For Browning the present is all important as men spend too much time
concentrating on the past or future as things are set out for us by fate and we cannot
control them. Even art is not that important as the sculptor's gaze moves away from
Venus to 'yonder girl that fords the burn'.
This poem is an
interesting one as it explores ideas of how we should live in the moment and be content
with that.
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