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Patriotism

-by Sir Walter Scott


Question and Answers:
Word Power:
1. What meaning does the word ‘breathe’ convey in the poem?
The word ‘Breathe’ means ‘to be alive’ in this poem.
2. The word ‘soul’ has been used in the poem to mean a person’s inner character. Look up the dictionary and find
out the other meanings of ‘soul’.
Another dictionary meaning of the word ‘soul’ is ‘psyche’/’human embodiment of something.’
3. Sentences –
a. Soul so dead: The man who doesn’t love his nation has a soul so dead.
b. On a foreign strand: It is easy to criticize your motherland when you are on a foreign strand.
c. Forfeit: Our soldier fought so bravely that the enemy had to forfeit the captured land.
d. doubly dying: Unpatriotic person is a doubly dying man
4. ‘un’-is a prefix used to make antonyms of words like, unwept and unsung. Find ten more words which have ‘un’
as a prefix and write them in your notebook.
unwell, untidy, undo, uncaring, unknown, unbroken, unhappy, unwind, unchanged, undress.

Comprehension:
A. Answer the following in one sentence.
1. Whose soul does the poet say is ‘dead’?
The poet says that a person who is not patriotic has a dead soul.
2. Who does the poet ask to mark well?
The poet asks to make well a non-patriotic person who goes to a foreign country and praises that country.
3. What delights the minstrel?
The return of a patriotic person to his motherland delights the minstrel.
4. How can a person doubly die?
Non-patriotic person can doubly die by forfeiting their reputation.
5. What is meant by ‘Vile dust’?
Vile dust stands for wretched soil. Here it is used in the sense that it has given birth to a person who has no
love for his native land.

B. Answer the following in about 100 to 150 words.


1. What happens to a person who returns home from a foreign land?
The return of a person from a foreign land is a matter of great joy. It is his love and attraction to his native
land that brings him home. He feels proud and proudly declares that ‘This is my home my native land”, all
the time. He is given honor, name and fame. He becomes an ideal man and makes his country great. Such a
person becomes a role model. The nation feels proud to have such a patriotic son of the soil.
2. What does the poet mean by for him no minstrel raptures swell?
The poet in this poem deals with the theme of patriotism. He feels that a man who loves his country is
great. He is the real son of the soil. The poet hardly believes that there would be anyone who has no love for
his native land. There is perhaps no one whose soul is dead at the feeling of his land. A person with such a
feeling to love for nation is worthy of our praise and honor. Whenever he returns home often wondering from
foreign lands, he is welcomed warmly. But the man with no such feeling is a bad name for the nation and he
does not deserve any praise and pleasure. No minstrel tries to praise him or honor him.
3. What are the attributes of a patriot? Can he die unwept, unhonoured 8 unsung? If no, why?
A patriot deserves all kinds of praise and affection. He is given high respect by his countrymen. If he comes
back from foreign countries, he is worthy of respect. If he comes back with no patriotic feeling, he is almost
dead. Even after his death, no one pays tribute by weeping & crying but when a man of patriotic feeling,
entire nation remembers his death. Poets admire him through their poems and say that a patriotic person
never dies a death of ignominy.
4. Write more to justify the title of the poem.
The poem “Patriotism” deal with the theme of patriotism. The poet talks about the man who has love for his
native land. Such a man gets praise and position everywhere Minstrels honor him by singing patriotic songs
in his praise. Even after his death, he is remembered. His death becomes a national mourning. The poet also
says about the person who has no patriotic feeling for his nation, such a man does not deserve anything.
Despite his power and position, he lives, unknown & dies unnoticed, no one weeps for him. As the poem only
presents the aspects of patriotism, hence the title is appropriate.
5. Write a Summary of the Poem Patriotism.
This poem deals with the theme of patriotism. The poet, Sir Walter Scott says that there is hardly any man
or person with a soul so dead who does not say that ‘this is my own, my native land”. There is hardly anyone
who does not feel proud & happy after returning from a foreign land to his own land. The poet says if there
is any; mark him well, for he does not deserve any praise. He may be a man with high title or name, with
boundless possession but, he is a wretch or poor and selfish person. He loses all his comfort and will die quite
unnoticed. He is a doubly dying man. The poet concludes that the person who does not love his country will
die a death of ignominy.

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