Alack! what poverty my Muse brings forth
Language: English
Available translation(s): ITA
Alack! what poverty my Muse brings forth,
That having such a scope to show her pride,
The argument, all bare, is of more worth
Than when it hath my added praise beside!
O! blame me not, if I no more can write!
Look in your glass, and there appears a face
That over-goes my blunt invention quite,
Dulling my lines, and doing me disgrace.
Were it not sinful then, striving to mend,
To mar the subject that before was well?
For to no other pass my verses tend
Than of your graces and your gifts to tell;
And more, much more, than in my verse can sit,
Your own glass shows you when you look in it.
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Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 117
Ah! Che povera cosa esprime la mia arte
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English
Ah! Che povera cosa esprime la mia arte
se, con un tale oggetto per descriverne il pregio,
quello, nella sua nudità, mostra un valore più forte
di quando viene adornato da ogni mio aggiunto elogio!
Oh! non biasimatemi, se scrivo a mala pena!
Guardate nello specchio, e mirerete un viso
che supera di molto la mia fiacca vena,
rende opachi i miei versi, e mi rende noioso.
Non sarebbe allora peccato, per volerlo abbellire,
guastare quel soggetto che già appariva perfetto?
Perché i miei versi vogliono solo aspirare
a descrivere i doni e la grazia del tuo aspetto;
E più, molto di più di quanto il mio verso dare ti possa
te lo dona il tuo specchio, quando rimiri te stessa.
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Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2011 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2011-09-19
Line count: 14
Word count: 121