The Patriot Robert Browning

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Robert Browning’s poem ‘The Patriot’ is a dramatic monologue where Browning adopts the persona of a un- named character. The poem is told in chronological order and traces from the year before, but unknown of what year it is from. The Patriot has a sense of mystery as ‘The Patriot’ shows a sense of commitment and also creates the sense of a love for their country, however throughout the poem it is untold of who ‘The Patriot’ is, as well as this ‘AN OLD STORY’ indicates that it was from the past and possibly could happen again but a quite vague meaning. Browning uses the repetition of ‘Roses,Roses, all the way,’ throughout the positive first stanza to indicate love and romance but also it could be seen as the symbol of England. In addition to this Browning uses the Alliteration of the letter M in the first stanza ‘Myrtle mixed in my path like mad’ to show the positive rhythm , the soft humming sound, has on the stanza making it more exciting and applausive as the Patriot is so applaudive at this time. Also he personifies the ‘house-roofs’ ‘church-spires’ to create an image within the reader’s mind of the amount of people out of their houses waving possibly their England flags to praise him of his good deeds. In comparison to this image in the second stanza Browning uses personification again with the implication being that even inaminate objects are caught up in celebration ‘the old walls rocked with the crowd and cries’ to show the praise and collective worship of ‘they’. However the their becomes a twist towards the end of the poem as it was him ‘who leaped at the sun’ rather than the collective ‘they’ which creates a sense of empathy for the Patriot and also gives indication of a wrong doing but again is completely vague of what. The stanza is full of understanding that he is in remorse but as an audience we are unsure of what and why as Browning subverts our
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