by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Look on thy country, look on fertile...
Language: English
JOAN LA PUCELLE Look on thy country, look on fertile France, And see the cities and the towns defaced By wasting ruin of the cruel foe. As looks the mother on her lowly babe When death doth close his tender dying eyes, See, see the pining malady of France; Behold the wounds, the most unnatural wounds, Which thou thyself hast given her woful breast. O, turn thy edged sword another way; Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help. One drop of blood drawn from thy country's bosom Should grieve thee more than streams of foreign gore: Return thee therefore with a flood of tears, And wash away thy country's stained spots.
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View text with all available footnotesAuthorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Henry VI, Part I, Act III, Scene 3 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Elizabeth Walton Vercoe (b. 1941), "Look on thy country, look on fertile France", 1986 [mezzo-soprano or soprano and piano], from the stage composition Herstory III: Jehanne de Lorraine, no. 4, confirmed with composer's website [ sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-02-16
Line count: 15
Word count: 114