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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation © by Ferdinando Albeggiani

O! how I faint when I of you do write
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
O! how I faint when I of you do write,
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,
And in the praise thereof spends all his might,
To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame!
But since your worth -- wide as the ocean is, --
The humble as the proudest sail doth bear,
My saucy bark, inferior far to his,
On your broad main doth wilfully appear.
Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,
Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride;
Or, being wrack'd, I am a worthless boat,
He of tall building, and of goodly pride:
      Then if he thrive and I be cast away,
      The worst was this, -- my love was my decay.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 80 [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 Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet LXXX", 1865-6 [ 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. 80, first published 1857
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 116

Quando scrivo di te mancare mi sento
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English 
Quando scrivo di te mancare mi sento
sapendo che un più alto spirito il tuo nome sta usando
e, mentre ti loda, con ogni sforzo è intento
a legarmi la lingua se pure io della tua fama parlo!
Ma poiché il tuo valore -  al pari dell’immenso mare -
può  l'umile  vela come la più più orgogliosa sostenere,
la mia impudente barchetta, alla sua tanto inferiore,
sulla tua più ampia rotta si ostina a navigare.
Per mantenermi a galla basterà un leggero sostegno,
mentre lui potrà solcare  i più profondi abissi;
e, se poi affonderò, sono una misero legno,
lui invece è ben costruito e con più solide assi:
E se lui avrà fortuna e io finirò affondato
Il peggio sarà questo: l’ amore mi ha rovinato.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2025 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.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 80
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2025-07-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 125

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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