The Oriental World/Volume 7/Issue 3/Hast Thou Seen My Country?

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Hast Thou Seen My Country? (1914)
by Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, translated by Alice Stone Blackwell

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Originally written in Armenian («Իմ հայրենիքը տեսե՞լ ես, ասա՛») in 1880 and first published in 1887. English translation published in the monthly The Oriental World in 1914.

Hovhannes Hovhannisyan4453770Hast Thou Seen My Country?1914Alice Stone Blackwell

HAST thou, I wonder, looked upon those hills
Where blossoms richly a perennial spring,
Where vineyards buried deep in verdure lie,
Where grapes like jewels ripen as they cling?

Hast thou seen fields and meads where bloom the pink,
The full-blown, radiant lily—and above,
A gracious sun that shines with golden beams,
And a blue sky that always breathes of love?

Hast thou beheld the raging river pass
In snow-white foam between the ancient rocks,
And listened with emotion to the roar
That rises from its billows' angry shocks?

Hast thou beheld the village in the vale,
Set round with glorious gardens like a park,—
A tranquil stream, and golden ears of grain?
There hast thou heard the music of the lark?

Its treasure hast thou seen—the angel-faced
And richly-molded daughter of the South,
With her deep eyes? Like roses are her lips,
Fadeless the smile upon her blooming mouth.

And from her tender cheeks aglow with love—
That maiden in the village of my home—
Oh, tell me, hast thou ever snatched a kiss,
A kiss more sweet than honey in the comb?

This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

Original:

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1929, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 94 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

This work is in the public domain in Russia (Article 1281 of the Russian Civil Code; Article 6 of Federal Law 231-FZ from December 18, 2006) because:

it was published anonymously or under a pseudonym before January 1, 1943 and the name of the author did not become known during 50 years after publication (before January 1, 1993), or
it was published anonymously or under a pseudonym after January 1, 1943, and the name of the author did not become known during 70 years after publication (as of 2024, this applies to works published before January 1, 1954), or
the work is non-amateur cinema or television film (or shots or fragments from it), which was first shown between January 1, 1929 and January 1, 1954 (over 70 years ago), or
the creator died over 74 years ago (before January 1, 1950), or
the creator died over 70 years ago (before January 1, 1954) and did not fight in or work during the Great Patriotic War (June 22, 1941–May 9, 1945).

If the author was subjected to repression and rehabilitated posthumously, countdown of copyright protection begins not from the death date, but from the rehabilitation date. If the work was first published posthumously, the copyright term is counted from the date of that first publication, unless the author was later rehabilitated, in which case it runs again from that later rehabilitation date.

This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), and it was first published before 1989 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities (renewal and/or copyright notice) and it was in the public domain in Russia on the URAA date (January 1, 1996). This is the combined effect of Russia having joined the Berne Convention in 1995, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.

The critical dates for copyright in the United States are January 1, 1943 for anonymous works; January 1, 1922 if the creator fought in the Great Patriotic War; January 1, 1926 otherwise.

This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

Translation:

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1950, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 73 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse