Question

the poem patriot by robrrt browning

Answer 1

I. 

It was roses, roses, all the way, 
With myrtle mixed in my path like mad: 
The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway, 
The church-spires flamed, such flags they had, 
A year ago on this very day. 

II. 

The air broke into a mist with bells, 
The old walls rocked with the crowd and cries. 
Had I said, ``Good folk, mere noise repels--- 
But give me your sun from yonder skies!'' 
They had answered, ``And afterward, what else?'' 

III. 

Alack, it was I who leaped at the sun 
To give it my loving friends to keep! 
Nought man could do, have I left undone: 
And you see my harvest, what I reap 
This very day, now a year is run. 

IV. 

There's nobody on the house-tops now--- 
Just a palsied few at the windows set; 
For the best of the sight is, all allow, 
At the Shambles' Gate---or, better yet, 
By the very scaffold's foot, I trow. 

V. 

I go in the rain, and, more than needs, 
A rope cuts both my wrists behind; 
And I think, by the feel, my forehead bleeds, 
For they fling, whoever has a mind, 
Stones at me for my year's misdeeds. 

VI. 

Thus I entered, and thus I go! 
In triumphs, people have dropped down dead. 
``Paid by the world, what dost thou owe 
``Me?''---God might question; now instead, 
'Tis God shall repay: I am safer so.

by Robert Browning

Answer 2

The Patriot is a dramatic monologuewritten by the renowned English poet and playwright Robert Browning. He is well known for his dramatic monologues and is widely celebrated as one of the foremost poets of the Victorian era. In this poem, Browning talks about Politics, Patriotism, Religious faith, and the harsh reality of the leaders who are true to their sense of patriotism. It speaks about the sacrifice of such leaders who are misunderstood by the people.

The speaker of the poem is a patriot. The poem is a monologue of this ‘patriot speaker’ who narrates his tale to us as he has been taken to the scaffold to be executed publicly for his ‘misdeeds’. He tells us of his situation: how he was once well loved by everyone, and how he is now despised by the same people. The patriot is innocent of having done any misdeeds, and it is only out of the misunderstanding of the people that he is being put to death. His death sentence is for the wrong reason, and although he’s tried to persuade the people to listen to him, it has done him no good.

‘The Patriot’ is a harsh critique on public sentiment and morality. It stresses on the point that not all decisions made or supported by the people are the right decisions, or even in their own interest. The poem has 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!.