The Rider

“The Rider” is written in free verse; it is nonrhyming and nonmetrical, mimicking the feel of natural speech. In stanza one, the conversational tone fosters a sense of intimacy. Nye uses the device of personification. Though loneliness is a feeling or abstract quality, she gives it human qualities. If one can outrace it, then loneliness is tactile.

In stanza two, we begin to sense the speaker’s affinity with the boy’s loneliness. Outracing loneliness, the speaker muses, “is the best reason I ever heard / for trying to be a champion” (Lines 4 – 5). The first two stanzas are in past tense, though we do not know whether the events occurred in the recent or distant past.

In stanza three, the poem transitions to present tense. This gives the poem a sense of immediacy. The speaker anchors the reader in time with the word “tonight” (Line 6). The speaker bikes down “King William Street” (Line 7), locating us in San Antonio, Texas. The poem shifts from the general to personal. The speaker, too, is lonely. They reveal this when contemplating whether bicycles, like skates, can outrace loneliness.

In the final stanza, the poem shifts to second person: “To leave your loneliness” (Line 9).