The Patriot

The poem ‘The Patriot’ is based on a man who has worked and fought for his country, which is clear in the title of the poem. The poem goes on to say that the public have not understood his intensions and they have punished him with the sentence to death. To begin with, the first stanza sets the scene and the setting of the poem, allowing the reader to understand where the writer is and what the poem is generally about. It says: “It was roses, roses, all the way”. Connotations of ‘roses’ are love and passion which could imply his love and passion for his country. This suggests his good intensions and that he loves and respects his country and that he would do anything for his country. Browning then says: “With myrtle mixed in my path like mad”. The ‘myrtle’ flower also connotes love; however the phrase ‘in my path like mad’ suggests that this love is tainted with malevolence and insanity. On one hand, we can understand that he loves his country and intends to do well for his country but on the other hand, he clearly feels some sort of hatred.

Furthermore, Browning refers to the story ‘Icarus’; he says: “it was I who leaped at the sun”. The story ‘Icarus’ links with ‘The Patriot’ because both Icarus and the patriot had ambitions which were then destroyed – Icarus attempted to fly towards the sun but he was too ambitious and he fell from the sky because he flew too close to the sun. This links to the Patriot because he was also too ambitions which resulted in him being killed. Because Browning states “it was I who leaped at the sun”, we understand that he has linked both ideas together – stating that the patriot was also too ambitious. This makes the reader understand that it is not good to be too determined. This, in a way, may make the reader feel sympathy for the patriot, because he did everything he could to make things right, and this just resulted in him being killed. However, we realise in the latter part of the poem that what he did was wrong.