Patriot into Traitor by Robert Browning

 Patriot into Traitor

By Robert Browning

• Critical analysis of the poem
• Main idea of the poem
• Contrast moods of the poem
• The poem reflects pessimism as well as disillusionment but leads to optimism at the end. Explain
• Patriot into Traitor as a Dramatic Monologued
• Contrast in the fate of the hero
• The portrait is a great explain. Explain.

Technically speaking, the poem in hand is a dramatic monologue . A monologue is a so each delivered by a character when he is all alone present on the stage. It is either an address to the audience or talking to oneself. The character reveals his inner self.It is called dramatic because it is replete with dramatic irony.

The poem lashes a trenchant satire on the world of human beings in which people go on changing their directions of sympathy exactly like the weather cock which changes its direction with every puff of wind. The poem is tinged with cynical pessimism and the feelings of frustration, disillusionment and bitterness on account of being discarded off by the same world which has showered rose petals only a year back. But the apparent pessimism concludes in reassuring optimism and reward by God in the next life. 

As the poem reveals , a true patriot has to face conflicting popular reactions within a limited period of one year. Only a year back, he is popularly acclaimed as the most sincere and patriotic leader of his nation. In order to appreciate and recognize his distinctive achievement as a great national leader, he is accorded a very warm and tumultuous welcome by a mammoth multitude. All around the passage where this leader is joyously moving about, house tops are astir with the waving hands of innumerable people and, to crown all this, countless hands are busy in sprinkling rose petals on him. To cut short, it is the midst of ecstatic cheers that the said leader is escorted to his habitation.

The oddest aspect of all this is that, only after a lapse of one year, the situation gets totally reversed. The thing is that, awing to a minor political mistake of the leader, this tide turns against him and he falls from the Olympian position of a patriot into the degraded one of a traitor. He is apprehended and made to walk on the same passage where he was given a thumping welcome only a year ago. The most ironic aspect is that the whole passage is deserted and no soul is visible on house tops. In brief, circumstances have changed altogether and he is now the most despicable creature on the face of earth. The remarkable thing is that, despite this total reversal, the leader is not crestfallen because he seems to have the belief that man's actions can only be judged and rewarded by the Creator in the Hereafter. In other words, although he is disillusioned yet he is not downcast and pessimistic due to his firm belief in the justice of God.

Symbolically speaking, this poem can be taken as a satire on the popular attitude which is inherently shaky and goes on changing with the passage of time.