Patriotism Love of Country

Patriotic Themes in American Literature

Patriotism is essentially a bond among countrymen as expressed concisely by Oliver Wendell Holmes, when he wrote, "One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, One Nation evermore!"[footnoteRef:1] Love for America is fortified by poetic images such as a tattered waving flag or a black and white photo of John Junior's salute. These images stir the heart and reinforce the bond that comes from having a common experience. However, just as romantic love is not all hearts and roses, so too love of country is not all banners and parades. In time, poems become dusty and old photos fade, making room for new images and experiences, such as empty ships, that may not be as moving. Seeing one's dreams of yesterday fall can lead to a pessimism that believes all the good is in the past and there is nothing but darkness awaiting the future. In American literature we find poignant examples to illustrate this pendulum of sentiment between blaring optimism and dry doubt. This essay will briefly compare and contrast an idealistic view with a pessimistic one as found in patriotic literature. A conclusion will be presented to address the question of how these two basic sentiments affect the future of American's thoughts and attitudes on patriotism. [1: Holmes, Voyage Of The Good Ship Union]

The first view, idealism, is iconically captured in Revolutionary War soldier Nathan Hale's dying words, "I regret that I have but one life to give my country." To die for one's country is the ideal of all patriotic ideals. This sentiment is echoed in Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem "Old Ironsides," first published in a Boston newspaper in1830 to protest the dismantling of the frigate U.S.S. Constitution. In writing, "Her deck, once red with heroes' blood; where knelt the vanquished foe"(line 9-10), Holmes laments that the war ship will see no more heroes' defeat of the enemy. The poem so touched the hearts of its readers and invoked patriotic action which led to the preservation of the ship.

The second view, pessimism, is demonstrated in Robert Lowell's depiction of America's future in his poem "For the Union Dead." Lowell foretells the deterioration of American ideals through detailed imagery. The poem begins with a gloomy depiction of the Old South Boston Aquarium boarded up and standing abandoned "in a Sahara of snow" (line 2). The author contrasts this present gloom with the romanticized childhood memory where his "hand tingle to burst the bubbles" created by the fish (lines 6-7). The forsaken aquarium represents Lowell's belief that American's principles are all but lost. Digging deeper, beyond the abandonment of past ideals, Lowell believes that the country has adopted new inspirations that are not lofty or innocent. He speaks of a photograph that shows a Mosler safe, called "the Rock of Ages" (line 57), that remarkably survives the atomic bomb at Hiroshima. For Lowell, the safe represents America's captivation with wealth and power. In a final play on words, Lowell reiterates America's fall from grace with the image of "Giant finned cars" that have "nose forward like fish" (line 66). The Aquarium, and the innocence of childhood, is gone. They have been replaced.