by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
Language: English
Available translation(s): ITA
Then let not winter's ragged hand deface, In thee thy summer, ere thou be distilled: Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place With beauty's treasure ere it be self-killed. That use is not forbidden usury, Which happies those that pay the willing loan; That's for thy self to breed another thee, Or ten times happier, be it ten for one; Ten times thy self were happier than thou art, If ten of thine ten times refigured thee: Then what could death do if thou shouldst depart, Leaving thee living in posterity? Be not self-willed, for thou art much too fair To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 6 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Michael G. Cunningham (b. 1937), "Then let not Winter's ragged hand", op. 112 no. ? (1985) [medium-high voice and piano], from Shakespeare Sonnets, Set 2 [text not verified]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet VI", 1862-4. [medium voice, piano] [text not verified]
- by David Winkler , "Sonnet VI", 1982 [SATB quartet and piano], from Cycle for Several Voices and Piano, no. 6. [text not verified]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot) , no title, from Oeuvres Complètes de Shakspeare Volume VIII, in Sonnets, no. 6, published 1863
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , title unknown, copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, from Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 6, published 1857
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-10-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 110