by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
The other two, slight air, and purging...
Language: English
Our translations: ITA
The other two, slight air, and purging fire
Are both with thee, wherever I abide;
The first my thought, the other my desire,
These present-absent with swift motion slide.
For when these quicker elements are gone
In tender embassy of love to thee,
My life, being made of four, with two alone
Sinks down to death, oppress'd with melancholy;
Until life's composition be recur'd
By those swift messengers return'd from thee,
Who even but now come back again, assur'd,
Of thy fair health, recounting it to me:
This told, I joy; but then no longer glad,
I send them back again, and straight grow sad.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 45 [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 Leslie Crabtree (b. 1941), "Sonnet XLV", 2010 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XLV", 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. 45, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Sonetto XLV", copyright © 2013, (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: 105
Les deux autres éléments, l'air subtil...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Les deux autres éléments, l'air subtil et le feu purifiant, sont avec toi partout où tu résides : le premier, ma pensée ! le second, mon désir ! présents-absents, ils filent d'un mouvement rapide. Aussi, quand, plus prompt que les autres, ils sont partis vers toi en tendre ambassade d'amour, mon être, formé de quatre éléments, n'en ayant plus que deux, reste mortellement affaissé sous le poids de la mélancolie, Jusqu'à ce qu'il recouvre toutes ses forces vives au retour de ces messagers rapides qui reviennent, dès qu'ils sont sûrs que tu vas bien, aussitôt me le raconter. Cela dit, je suis heureux ; mais, à peine satisfait, je les renvoie encore, et vite me voilà triste.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 45, 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. 45
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: 113