# Patria explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Henry van Dyke Jr..

## What happens

The speaker declares an unbreakable, almost organic loyalty to America, asserting that his very identity and existence are inseparable from his homeland.

## Themes in this chapter

### Duty and Patriotism

The speaker's love for country is described as a natural law and sovereign claim, binding his very existence to America.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker who professes an innate, sovereign love for America.

## Key lines

> For like a law of nature in my blood, America, I feel thy sovereignty, And woven through my soul thy vital sign.

My patriotism is not a choice but an innate, biological fact; America's rule is woven into the fabric of my being.

_The speaker naturalizes national loyalty as an essential, unchangeable part of himself._

> My life is but a wave and thou the flood; I am a leaf and thou the mother-tree; Nor should I be at all, were I not thine.

I am a small, dependent part of a greater whole; without America, I would have no existence or identity.

_The speaker uses organic metaphors to express complete dependence on and unity with the nation._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_10_se/chapters/patria
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_10_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_10_se/chapters