by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
If thou survive my well‑contented day
Language: English
Available translation(s): ITA
If thou survive my well-contented day, When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover And shalt by fortune once more re-survey These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover, Compare them with the bett'ring of the time, And though they be outstripp'd by every pen, Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme, Exceeded by the height of happier men. O! then vouchsafe me but this loving thought: 'Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age, A dearer birth than this his love had brought, To march in ranks of better equipage: But since he died and poets better prove, Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love'.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 32 [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 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet XXXII - If thou survive", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 1 no. 6 (1944-5) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "If thou survive my well-contented day", 1874 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XXXII", 1865 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 32, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Se sopravviverai a questa mia felice stagione", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-10-18
Line count: 14
Word count: 114