Sonnet XXVIII | How can I then return in happy plight

How can I then return in happy plight

Language: English

Our translations: ITA

How can I then return in happy plight,
That am debarred the benefit of rest?
When day's oppression is not eas'd by night,
But day by night and night by day oppress'd,
And each, though enemies to either's reign,
Do in consent shake hands to torture me,
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still farther off from thee.
I tell the day, to please him thou art bright,
And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven:
So flatter I the swart-complexion'd night,
When sparkling stars twire not thou gild'st the even.
  But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer,
  And night doth nightly make grief's length seem stronger.

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Text Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 28 [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), "Epilogue", op. 74 (1976) [ SATB soli, SATB chorus, orchestra or piano ], from Symphonic Arias -- Night [sung text not yet checked]
by Bernard van Dieren (1887 - 1936), "Introduction: Sonnet XXVIII", 1916 [ baritone and orchestra ], from Diaphony (Diafonia), no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XXVIII", 1865 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Carlos Claudio Spies (1925 - 2020), no title, 1976-7, first performed 1978 [ satb quartet and piano ], from Five Sonnet-Settings, no. 3 [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. 28, first published 1857

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-10-15
Line count: 14
Word count: 116