by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
How can my muse want subject to invent
Language: English
Our translations: ITA
How can my muse want subject to invent,
While thou dost breathe, that pour'st into my verse
Thine own sweet argument, too excellent
For every vulgar paper to rehearse?
O! give thy self the thanks, if aught in me
Worthy perusal stand against thy sight ;
For who's so dumb that cannot write to thee,
When thou thy self dost give invention light?
Be thou the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth
Than those old nine which rhymers invocate;
And he that calls on thee, let him bring forth
Eternal numbers to outlive long date.
If my slight muse do please these curious days,
The pain be mine, but thine shall be the praise.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 38 [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 XXXVIII", 1865 [ high voice or 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. 38, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2012, (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: 114
Comment ma muse pourrait‑elle manquer de...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Comment ma muse pourrait-elle manquer de sujet tant que de ton souffle tu verses dans mon vers ton ineffable argument, trop parfait pour être confié à un papier vulgaire ? Oh ! remercie-toi toi-même, si tu trouves chez moi rien qui vaille la peine que tu le lises ; car quel est l'être assez muet pour ne rien pouvoir te dire, quand toi-même tu donnes la lumière à son invention ? Sois pour lui la dixième Muse, dix fois plus puissante que ces neuf vieilles invoquées par les rimeurs : et celui qui t'invoquera produira des nombres éternels qui survivront aux dates lointaines. Si ma muse légère charme l'avenir curieux, qu'à moi en soit la peine, mais à toi l'éloge !
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 38, first published 1857 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 38
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 115