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Summarising and explaining the poem the patriot.
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The patriotRobert browning
About the poet :
Born in Camberwell, South London, Robert Browning (7th May 1812 -12
December 1889) was raised in a household of significant literary resources. In
March 1833, Pauline, a fragment of a confession was published anonymously by
Saunders and Otley at the expense of the author. In 1838 he visited Italy, looking
for background for Sordello, a long poem in heroic couplets, presented as the
imaginary biography of the Mantuan bard spoken of by Dante in the Divine
Comedy, canto 6 of Purgatory. Next was Bells and Pomegranates (1841-1846), a
series of eight pamphlets. In 1845, Browning met the poet Elizabeth Barrett, six
years his elder, who lived as a semi-invalid in her father's house in Wimpole Street,
London and got married to her on 12 September 1846. In Florence, probably from
early 1853, Browning worked on the poems that eventually comprised his two-
volume Men and Women, (1855) for which he is now well known. In 1868, after
five years work, he completed and published the long blank-verse poem The Ring
and the Book. Browning is often known by some of his short poems, such as
Porphyria's Lover, My Last Duchess, Rabbi Ben Ezra, How they brought the good
News From Ghent to Aix, Evelyn Hope, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, A Grammarian's
Funeral, A Death in the Desert. Browning's fame today rests mainly on his dramatic
monologues, in which the words not only convey setting and action but also reveal
the speaker's character.
Poem at a glance :
~A patriot returns to his country amid celebrations when everyone is waiting to
greet him and have a glance of him.
~People have decorated the whole of the city and have come out to welcome him.
~In a year's time, because of the patriot's 'misdeeds' he is again taken through the
same streets but this time there is no one there.
~People have assembled at the place where the patriot is about to be
publicly hanged.
~People even throw stones at him.
~The patriot says that it is better that he is leaving this world and joining the
company of God where probably he will get justice.
Summary :
The poem "The Patriot" by Robert Browning deals with the life of a patriot when
the patriot rises to power amid much admiration of the people. As we start
reading the poem we figure out that the patriot is welcomed in the city amid much
celebration when people are waiting everywhere just to have a glimpse of the hero.
But within a year, because of his 'misdeeds' the patriot is about to be hanged.
, Whereas people gathered a year before to welcome him; now the people have
gathered at the place of his public hanging to witness his hanging. They throw
stones at the patriot, bleeding him badly. The patriot just looks at everything and
thinks that it is better that he is dead as he will be in the safer hands of God after
his death.
Justification of the title:
The title of Robert Browning's poem "The Patriot" seems to be apt as the poem
deals with a patriot's rise and fall. A patriot is someone who has a very strong
support for his nation and also does things to make his or her nation proud. Such
a figure is usually looked upon with great reverence by people of that nation and
moreover he is provided with political authority over the affairs of the nation. Such
a patriot returns to the town amid much celebration in the poem as the people are
waiting everywhere to have a glimpse of the hero. But within a year, because of
his misdeeds' the same patriot is about to be hanged. The poem is a description
by the patriot about how people have changed in a year's time and how once
glorious deeds of his has now been judged by his misdeeds of a year. As the poet
deals with the patriot's life for a year and within a year shows his rise and
downfall, the title of the poem is apt. The subtitle "An Old Story" is again
significant as the journey that the patriot shows in the poem is not a story of a
particular patriot but a journey of many patriots happens again and again in
history, the poet terms this story as an old story." therefore to suggest that it
happens again and again in history, the poet terms this story as an old story.
Paraphasing and explanations :
STANZA 1
The poet in the first stanza is describing the kind of welcome the patriot has
received on the very day a year ago. He describes how people have come out of
their houses to have a glimpse of him. They have put roses and myrtles on the
road to welcome him. The roofs of the houses of the streets from where he was
going were so crowded that they seem to swing. The towers of the churches were
decorated with many flags that it seemed that they were up in flames. The
description is that of the grand welcome of the patriot who is much loved by all.
STANZA 2
The bells were ringing everywhere with so much vehemence that it seemed that
the air was getting misty with the bell-sounds. The city's old walls was rocking as
the crowd of people were everywhere to have a glimpse of the patriot and to
welcome him. The patriot says that at that moment, if he had said that this kind of
noise is repelling to him and would he have asked for the sun from the distant sky,
the crowd would have answered by asking what else he wanted.
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