by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Dove‑feathered raven
Language: English
O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Dove-feather’d raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! Despised substance of divinest show! Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st, A damned saint, an honourable villain! O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell, When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend In moral paradise of such sweet flesh? Was ever book containing such vile matter So fairly bound? O that deceit should dwell In such a gorgeous palace!
Romeo and Juliet, Act 3 Scene 2 (Line 74-86)
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), appears in Romeo and Juliet [author's text not yet checked 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 Aija Draguns (b. 1999), "Dove-feathered raven", 2020 [ soprano, violin, flute and piano ]
Score: Soundcloud [external link]  [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2025-11-08
Line count: 13
Word count: 87