Ans: “The Patriot” is one of the most wonderful poems by Robert Browning. Robert Browning is the most formidable figure of the Victorian period. The Victorian period was a period of doubt and conflict. During such a period, Browning appeared with a glimmering of hope in his poems. He was a very consistent thinker of the optimistic philosophy of life. His poem “The Patriot” is a wonderful example of his optimism. Though he is sad at the beginning of the poem, he ends the poem with an optimistic note.
The speaker starts the poem “The Patriot” with a description of the grand ovation and he reveals what is happening to him now and then he expresses his optimistic view after death. This very poem reflects the optimistic view that everything will be good in the end if not in this life certainly is the life after death.
The narrator in the poem is a patriot who was warmly welcomed home by crowds of people at the beginning of the poem. The patriot says that just a year ago when he entered the city, people welcome him warmly and decorated his paths with roses and myrtles. He was glorified by the people because he performed heroic deeds for his nation. There was immense gratitude in their sentiment and the patriot was overwhelmed with great honor and respect.
But after one year the context has radically changed and the reaction of the common people is completely the opposite. There is only hatred and disgrace in their attitude. The patriot has lost all the love, respect, and favor of his people and he is overwhelmed with utter humiliation. He is being taken to the Scaffold to be hanged. There is nobody on the housetops now. People are throwing stones at him and his forehead is bleeding.
After all this ill-treatment, the patriot is optimistic and consoles him that God will reward him in Heaven. Browning believed in the benevolence of God, he believed that nothing could be wrong at the end. The speaker in the poem confesses that he is given capital punishment for the wrong reason and he has strong hope in God that he will be saved from the public’s misunderstanding.
The poem “The Patriot” suggests that God’s deeds are not rewarded or appreciated in this world. The people who have a religious belief that they will be rewarded by God with paradise in the afterlife for their great deeds. The speaker expresses his optimistic view through the following lines —
” Paid by the world, what dost thou owe
Me?—God might question; now instead,
‘Tis God shall repay: I am safer so. “
The speaker means to say though he is not rewarded in this world, he will be rewarded by God after death. So he is safe now.
To conclude, we can say that the poem “The Patriot” is a striking example of Browning’s optimism. Through the poem starts with melancholy, it ends with optimism. In the poem, Browning has shown his optimistic view very successfully.
