The Rider

“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.