old man at the bridge-old man's political views
Answers
Robert Browning’s poem “The Patriot” vividly depicts the theme of rise and fall of fortune and glory by presenting two contrasting pictures from the patriot’s life through the narration of the patriot himself.
The poem starts with the patriot describing an event – a grand public welcome – that took place a year ago on that very same day. He is reminiscing the past, and he builds a picture for us as he remembers that day. His walking path was covered with lots and lots of rose petals, with myrtle mixed with them. The path was festooned with those flowers for him.
People standing on the roofs of their houses cheered for him as he passed by. They were overjoyed to see him. The spires of the church were covered with flaming flags that the people had put up for a celebration. People were overwhelmingly delighted to greet their hero and were enthusiastic to see him as he passed by. People were rejoicing by ringing bells and the entire atmosphere was thick with its noise. They were standing on some kind of old structure and cheering for the patriot with their cries rocking the walls.
It is only logical to assume that this grand celebration must be as a result of some achievement on the speaker’s part. Perhaps it was a victory in war or the assemblage for fighting one, or winning a popular election to an office, or being nominated as a ruler, or maybe something else. It can be assumed that it concerned the common people highly, and they were happy on the occasion. The patriot is seen as a public hero who is greeted with much love and affection by the commoners.
Then the speaker returns to the present and talks about what he sees. He describes the present setting and contrasts it with the one on the same day a year before. Now he has been convicted and is being led to the gallows to be put to death.
As opposed to the setting a year ago, now the place is all empty. Now there’s nobody on the roof-tops cheering for him. Only old men who are taken down by palsy and unable to cross the threshold of their houses are watching the patriot as he marches towards his death.
The reason why no one is there to see the speaker is because people have gathered at the Shambles’ gate, the gate of the gallows, to see him die. The people want to be where the action is. The speaker further makes the heart-touching comment that the best sight is at the gate of the slaughterhouse, or at the very foot of the scaffold.
It is raining as the speaker walks towards the scaffold. His hands are tied behind by a rope – so tight that it cuts his wrists. As he is walking, he thinks he is bleeding from his forehead. He can only feel the trickling of blood. People throwing stones at him are causing the injuries.
So stones have replaced the petals of roses! The fall the rise. There is a sense of universality to it as history has witnessed the rise and fall of many such ‘patriots’ throughout its course — a grim reminder that life is uncertain!
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Explanation:
"Old Man at the Bridge."
In "Old Man at the Bridge," war has a devastating impact on both civilians and soldiers. That impact can be seen in the forced displacement of noncombatants and the disintegration of political and social trust.
The narrator of "The Old Man at the Bridge" is a soldier. Whether he is a military man by profession or, like Hemingway, someone who joined the Republican army to fight the Fascists out of political conviction, he has a purpose, with specific duties to perform. The subject of the story, the old man, is in the opposite position. He had a role, looking after animals, but the war took this role away from him. Now, he has nothing to do and cannot even see the point of picking himself up out of the dust and attempting to save his own life.
The impact of war on the life of a soldier is obvious. However, the soldier is prepared to fight, while civilians who are caught up in the war have their lives abruptly thrown into chaos. Across the bridge in Hemingway's story comes a stream of fugitives, all of them forced to abandon whatever they were doing and concentrate on the business of survival. They have no idea what will happen to them or their homes and livelihoods. Many of them, like the old man, will be "without politics" and may have no clear notion of why the armies are fighting.
For these people, war has the character of a natural disaster, like an earthquake. They all have their lives turned upside down, and a few, particularly the old and sick, may well resign themselves to death as soon as they perceive the extent of the chaos. Even if they survive, any of the noncombatants can experience the sudden loss of home, family, livelihood, possessions, or sanity. The horror of war is exacerbated in their case by its senseless arbitrariness. Those most affected by war are the ones who have the least theoretical interest in it.
In the story, the two principal characters, the old man and the soldier, discuss the advance of the fascist army and the impending war. The old man, like many of his neighbours, has been forced to leave his home. His plight calls attention to how war contributes to the disintegration of the social structure. Without family, the old man is likely to become one of the first casualties of the war, as he doesn't possess the physical strength to make the trek to safety. In all, the Spanish Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in Western Europe after WWI. It led to widespread atrocities, the deaths of more than 200,000 civilians, and the displacement of millions of Spaniards. The story hints at this through the seemingly innocent interaction between the soldier and the old man.
"But what will they do under the artillery when I was told to leave because of the artillery?"
"Old Man at the Bridge" shows the devastating impact that war can have on people, especially innocent civilians. As the story opens, thousands of refugees are making their way to safety across a hastily constructed pontoon bridge. The fascists are coming, and their well-deserved reputation for brutality precedes them. With the imminent arrival of enemy forces, local people have no choice but to move on out.