15 pages • 30 minutes read
Naomi Shihab NyeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“The Rider” is a free verse poem; it does not have any set rhyme scheme or meter. The poem is thirteen lines long divided into four stanzas. Nye’s choice to arrange “The Rider” in this way helps the reader navigate the poem, particularly the shifts in tenses and perspectives. The first stanza takes place as a memory in which the speaker recalls a story a boy told them in the past. By separating stanza one from stanza two, Nye creates a clear division between what the boy said and what the speaker thinks about it. Offsetting Lines 4-5 creates two separate moments. In the first, the speaker tells the boy’s story; in the second, the speaker tells their opinion of the boy’s story.
Similarly, the final two stanzas represent different moments in time, space, and point of view. Stanza three shifts the poem into the present tense with the word “tonight” (Line 6). In stanza four, Nye switches from first-person to second-person. The structure of “The Rider” is not determined by rhyme or meter, but by context and subject matter. Through the arrangement of lines and stanzas, Nye guides her reader through the poem, occupying memory, a moment in present tense, and multiple point of view shifts.
By Naomi Shihab Nye
300 Goats
Naomi Shihab Nye
Alphabet
Naomi Shihab Nye
Blood
Naomi Shihab Nye
Burning the Old Year
Naomi Shihab Nye
Different Ways to Pray
Naomi Shihab Nye
Famous
Naomi Shihab Nye
Gate A-4
Naomi Shihab Nye
Jerusalem
Naomi Shihab Nye
Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye
Making a Fist
Naomi Shihab Nye
Morning Song
Naomi Shihab Nye
My Uncle’s Favorite Coffee Shop
Naomi Shihab Nye
Shoulders
Naomi Shihab Nye
The Art of Disappearing
Naomi Shihab Nye
The Turtle of Oman
Naomi Shihab Nye
The Words Under the Words
Naomi Shihab Nye
Valentine for Ernest Mann
Naomi Shihab Nye