Afifa Qureshi, 10A.

Roll number:12

English Literature Project-1

The Patriot by Robert Browning

The Patriot is a dramatic monologue written 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 leading poets of the
Victorian era. His poems are known to be ironic, well
characterised, filled with dark humour, social
commentary, historical settings as well as challenging
vocabulary. His career began well, but shrank for some
Robert Browning
time. His poems Pauline (1833) and Paracelsus (1835)
were acclaimed, but in 1840 his poem Sordello was
seen as wilfully obscure.
The poem, The Patriot, being a monologue has only one speaker, that is the
Patriot himself. The Patriot is a man who was once idolised. He describes his
fall from grace as he is being led to the Scaffold for his public execution. The
poem serves as a reminder of the harsh fact that public opinion, fame and glory
are impermanent. The poet recalls how just a year ago, on the very day, the
people had received him with utmost love and affection. How his path was
strewn with roses and myrtle as a symbol of respect and appreciation. The old
buildings seemed to be moving to and fro by the weight of the people as some
of them had climbed on rooftops only to get a glimpse of their hero. The
atmosphere echoed with the sound of church bells that were rung in honour of
the Patriot. The poet tells us that had he demanded for something as impossible
as the sun, the people would not
have thought twice about it and
brought it for him.
However, just a year later things
have changed so drastically and
the man that was once so
respected is now being dragged
away to his own execution. The
poet tells us how he had done the
impossible for his countrymen,
left no stone unturned and given People gathered to welcome the Patriot.
off his best. Yet, in just a year
the people have forgotten all that
and this was how he was being rewarded. The rooftops are now empty, with no
one to even bid him farewell, except a few crippled people who, by virtue of
 Afifa Qureshi, 10A. Roll number:12

their fate are unable to move out to the gallows to witness the execution. Some
people have already gathered at the Shamble’s Gate, while the others have
gathered at the Scaffold’s foot to get a better view.
It is ironic how the atmosphere is now in a depressed and helpless state, while
only a year ago on the same day it was joyous and was echoing with church
bells and happy cries to welcome the same man who’s fortune has now fallen,
leading him to death. The
same people who had thrown
roses in the his path, are now
hurling stones at him,
causing his forehead to
bleed. His hands are tied
behind his back so tightly
that the rope is cutting into
his skin.
The Patriot recalls how he
was welcomed in great
rejoice and honour and
People gathered to witness the execution. compares it to how he is now
leaving in humiliation and
disrespect. He tells us how fame and glory are so impermanent that they can be
replaced by hatred only in a year’s time. Even though the people have let him
down, the poet finds consolation in the fact that God will grant him the justice
that the fickle minded and ungrateful people of this world never could. The poet
ends on an optimistic note with the Patriot’s faith in God.
The message conveyed by the poem is that people in this world are volatile and
change their opinions rapidly, without thinking much about what might be the
right, or even just thing to do. Someone who is loved today may easily be
despised tomorrow, which is why one should not run after fame and glory. The
Patriot’s faith in God teaches us that we should trust God’s ways even in the
darkest of times for he is the only one who can provide us with justice.