The Patriot
It was roses, roses, all the way,With myrtle mixed in my path like mad:The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway,The church-spires flamed, such flags they had,A year ago on this very day.
The air broke into a mist with bells,The old walls rocked with the crowd and cries.Had I said, "Good folk, mere noise repels--But give me your sun from yonder skies!"They had answered, "And afterward, what else?"
Alack, it was I who leaped at the sunTo give it my loving friends to keep!Nought man could do, have I left undone:And you see my harvest, what I reapThis very day, now a year is run.
There's nobody on the house-tops now--Just a palsied few at the windows set;For the best of the sight is, all allow,At the Shambles' Gate--or, better yet,By the very scaffold's foot, I trow.
I go in the rain, and, more than needs,A rope cuts both my wrists behind;And I think, by the feel, my forehead bleeds,For they fling, whoever has a mind,Stones at me for my year's misdeeds.
Thus I entered, and thus I go!In triumphs, people have dropped down dead."Paid by the world, what dost thou oweMe?"--God might question; now instead,'Tis God shall repay: I am safer so.
Words in this poem
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- alack interj.
- An exclamation expressive of sorrow. [Prob. from ah! lack! OE. lak loss, failure, misfortune. See Lack.]
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
- palsied a.
- Affected with palsy; paralyzed.
- trow v. i.
- To believe; to trust; to think or suppose. [OE. trowen, AS.treówan to trust, believe, fr. treów trust, treówe true, faithful. See True.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- whoever pron.
- Whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Patriot is in the public domain. This text is taken from Dramatic Romances, Project Gutenberg ebook #4253; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Browning, The Patriot, in Dramatic Lyrics (1842), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4253, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/browning-dramatic-lyrics/the-patriot.html, id L03535.
Form and metre
The Patriot is 30 lines in 6 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABA, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABA wayA · madB · swayA · hadB · dayA
- 2 ABAB- bellsA · criesB · repelsA · skiesB · else
- 3 ABABA sunA · keepB · undoneA · reapB · runA
- 4 ABAB- nowA · setB · allowA · yetB · trow
- 5 ABABA needsA · behindB · bleedsA · mindB · misdeedsA
- 6 ABABA goA · deadB · oweA · insteadB · soA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| It was roses, roses, all the way, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| With myrtle mixed in my path like mad: | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway, | 8 | ········ |
| The church-spires flamed, such flags they had, | 8 | ········ |
| A year ago on this very day. | 9 | ··˘/··/˘· |
| The air broke into a mist with bells, | 9 | ········· |
| The old walls rocked with the crowd and cries. | 9 | ········· |
| Had I said, "Good folk, mere noise repels-- | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| But give me your sun from yonder skies!" | 9 | ······/˘· |
| They had answered, "And afterward, what else?" | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| Alack, it was I who leaped at the sun | 10 | ˘/········ |
| To give it my loving friends to keep! | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Nought man could do, have I left undone: | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And you see my harvest, what I reap | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| This very day, now a year is run. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| There's nobody on the house-tops now-- | 9 | ·/······· |
| Just a palsied few at the windows set; | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| For the best of the sight is, all allow, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| At the Shambles' Gate--or, better yet, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| By the very scaffold's foot, I trow. | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| I go in the rain, and, more than needs, | 9 | ········· |
| A rope cuts both my wrists behind; | 8 | ········ |
| And I think, by the feel, my forehead bleeds, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For they fling, whoever has a mind, | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| Stones at me for my year's misdeeds. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Thus I entered, and thus I go! | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| In triumphs, people have dropped down dead. | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| "Paid by the world, what dost thou owe | 8 | ········ |
| Me?"--God might question; now instead, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| 'Tis God shall repay: I am safer so. | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
On this poem
"The Patriot" is a hero's story of the reward and punishment dealt him for his services within one year. To act regardless of praise or blame, save God's, seems safer.
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.