Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FRANCE by PERCY MACKAYE

First Line: HALF ARTIST AND HALF ANCHORITE
Last Line: JEANNE D'ARC!
Subject(s): FRANCE; IDENTITY; JOAN OF ARC (1412-1431); NATIONS; WAR;

Half artist and half anchorite,
Part siren and part Socrates,
Her face — alluring and yet recondite —
Smiled through her salons and academies.

Lightly she wore her double mask,
Till sudden, at war's kindling spark,
Her inmost self, in shining mail and casque,
Blazed to the world her single soul —
Jeanne d'Arc!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net