Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe

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1914 – Hardy, Thomas: England to Germany in 1914

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    “O England, may God punish thee!”
    – Is it that Teuton genius flowers
    Only to breathe malignity
    Upon its friend of earlier hours?
    – We have eaten your bread, you have eaten ours,
    We have loved your burgs, your pines' green moan,
    Fair Rhine-stream, and its storied towers;
    Your shining souls of deathless dowers
    Have won us as they were our own:

    We have nursed no dreams to shed your blood,
    We have matched your might not rancorously
    Save a flushed few whose blatant mood
    You heard and marked as well as we
    To tongue not in their country's key;
    But yet you cry with face aflame,
    'O England, may God punish thee!'
    And foul in onward history,
    And present sight, your ancient name.

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    Word Count: 116

  • EnglishLiterature (poetry/verse)
  • Year
    1914
    Author
    Hardy, Thomas
    Title (original)
    England to Germany in 1914
    Text genre
    Poetry/Verse
    Notes

    Hardy’s response to Lissauer’s Hassgesang gegen England and the popular slogan Gott strafe England. The ageing Hardy had been involved in the propaganda meeting set up by the Home Office in 1914 and was one of the signatories of the manifesto declaring the justness of the British cause in the war.

    Word Count: 52

    Text (original)

    “O England, may God punish thee!”
    – Is it that Teuton genius flowers
    Only to breathe malignity
    Upon its friend of earlier hours?
    – We have eaten your bread, you have eaten ours,
    We have loved your burgs, your pines' green moan,
    Fair Rhine-stream, and its storied towers;
    Your shining souls of deathless dowers
    Have won us as they were our own:

    We have nursed no dreams to shed your blood,
    We have matched your might not rancorously
    Save a flushed few whose blatant mood
    You heard and marked as well as we
    To tongue not in their country's key;
    But yet you cry with face aflame,
    'O England, may God punish thee!'
    And foul in onward history,
    And present sight, your ancient name.

    Word Count: 116