If England to Itself Do Rest but True
With King John dead and the threat of invasion fading, Philip Faulconbridge reflects that the danger within is always greater than the danger without.
set in 1216
King Henry III 1216-1272
With King John dead and the threat of invasion fading, Philip Faulconbridge reflects that the danger within is always greater than the danger without.
set in 1216
King Henry III 1216-1272
At the end of William Shakespeare’s play The Life and Death of King John, written in about 1594-96, the King has just died an untimely death; with him has died the threat of a French invasion, and John’s heir Henry has returned home to England to assume the crown. Henry’s cousin Philip Faulconbridge heaves a sigh of relief, and draws an optimistic moral from all that has gone before.
O, LET us pay the time but needful woe,
Since it hath been beforehand with our griefs.*
This England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror,
But when it first did help to wound itself.
Now these her princes are come home again,*
Come the three corners of the world in arms,
And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue,
If England to itself do rest but true.
* Philip is saying that there is no need to overdo the mourning for King John, since the country has had enough grief already from anticipating a French invasion that never came.
* In the play, the most prominent English noblemen are Prince Henry, John’s son, who came to the throne as King Henry III (r. 1216-1272); Geoffrey FitzPeter, Earl of Essex; William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury; William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke; and Roger Bigod or Bigot, Earl of Norfolk.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
King John died in 1216. The French decided not to invade England.
See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.
IAfter. IIPlan. IIIReconsider.