Ride Richard Wilbur's Poem, "The Ride" Recounts Term Paper

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Richard Wilbur's poem, "The Ride" recounts a dream that the narrator once had. In the poem, the narrator describes how he got through a blizzard with the help of a horse, whose existence he begins to question after he has arrived at his destination. One of the most outstanding features of the horse is the supernatural qualities that it appears to embody. Through imagery, tone, and supernatural attributes, Wilbur is able to create a poem that is full of mysticism and doubt.

In the poem, imagery is used to describe the blinding blizzard that the narrator must traverse and the horse that guides him. The narrator is trying to find his way through "the horror of snow" (Wilbur, 2005, line 3) and through "shattering vacancies" (line 15). While the premise of the journey does not appear to be supernatural, though it can be argued that the blizzard was more violent than expected, the method of transportation which the narrator employs is given many supernatural traits. For example, while many times a horse needs to be guided to an individual's destination, the narrator contends, "The horse beneath me seemed/to know what course to steer" (lines 1-2), establishing that the horse was imbued with some sort of telepathic quality that enabled him to communicate with the narrator.

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Moreover, the narrator states, "It seemed that all night through,/Within my hand no rein/And nothing in my view/But the pillar of his mane" (lines 9-12) helped him to get to where he was going. Not only does the horse ride allow the narrator to forget the concepts of space and time, but also the horse does not need to be bridled nor guided to his destination. Furthermore, the narrator is physically blind to where he is, and although he knows where he is going to end up, he does not know how he will get there. The narrator continues to describe his journey and even goes as far as describing the ride in supernatural terms. The narrator states that he "rode with magic ease/At a quick, unstumbling trot/Through shattering vacancies/On into what was not" (lines 13-16), which indicates that the journey appeared to be magical in nature, not only because of the manner….....

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"Ride Richard Wilbur's Poem The Ride Recounts" (2012, April 29) Retrieved May 20, 2025, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/ride-richard-wilbur-poem-ride-recounts-56971

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"Ride Richard Wilbur's Poem The Ride Recounts", 29 April 2012, Accessed.20 May. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/ride-richard-wilbur-poem-ride-recounts-56971
   

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