How does the Patriot reciprocate(repay) the love of his people? (3)
(ii) What is the difference between what happened one year ago and
the present day? Why? (3)
(iii) Where does he expect the people to be? Why? (
(iv) What kind of impression of the people is formed here?
Answers
Robert Browning’s poem The Patriot is a tragic tale of a man who fell from being a star citizen to becoming despised so intensely that he was put to death. The entire poem is based on irony as the people who once used to revere the man and put him on a pedestal became the same people who deserted him and even killed him at the end. The Patriot is divided into six stanzas, each of which is a different chapter of the Patriot’s life.
The poem is heavy with irony as it describes a man who had given everything up for his people and was initially revered by them, only to be killed at their hands without a second thought in the end.
Themes in The Patriot
In ‘The Patriot’ Browning explores themes that include duty, happiness, and sorrow. The extremely fickle opinions of the citizens of this area change the Patriot’s life form one of celebration to one of sorrow. The man is welcomed with adoring and an obsessively reverential celebration but soon things change. IT no longer matters the lifetime he spent in dedication to his country. Everyone and everything turns on him. Eventually, he’s killed and no one is even there to watch.