A ridge is the raised spine of a hill range or mountain, extending like a narrow roof between falling sides. In poetry, it directs movement and vision: a figure climbs toward it, walks its exposed length, or looks from it into separate valleys. Wind, cloud, and light are often more vivid there because nothing blocks them. The ridge can therefore represent decision, balance, and transition, while its geological continuity suggests a deep structure beneath passing human events.

A ridge is a long elevated crest, and in landscape poetry it often serves both as a physical feature and as a visual boundary. A traveller reaching a ridge gains a new prospect, so it can mark revelation, transition, exposure, or the culmination of an ascent. Ridges also divide drainage basins and can function as natural routes through mountainous terrain. Weather and light may make them appear sharp, bare, or silhouetted. Related terms include crest, spine, watershed, escarpment, summit, divide, range, skyline, pass, and the symbolic motif of crossing into another region.