by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
Language: English
Our translations: ITA
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie, --
A closet never pierc'd with crystal eyes --
But the defendant doth that plea deny,
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To side this title is impannelled
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart;
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eye's moiety, and the dear heart's part:
As thus; mine eye's due is thy outward part,
And my heart's right, thy inward love of heart.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 46 [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 XLVI", 1865 [ duet for soprano and alto with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joel Weiss , "Sonnet 46", 1995 [ 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. 46, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Sonetto XLVI", 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: 115
Mes yeux et mon cœur se font une guerre...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Mes yeux et mon cœur se font une guerre à mort pour se disputer la conquête de ton image. Mes yeux refusent à mon cœur la vue de tes traits, et mon cœur refuse ce privilège à mes yeux. Mon cœur allègue que tu l'as pris à demeure, retraite où n'ont jamais pénétré des yeux de cristal. Mais les défendants repoussent cette plaidoirie en disant que ta charmante image est fixée en eux. Un jury de pensers, tous tenanciers de mon cœur, s'est assemblé pour décider le cas, et a adjugé par son verdict une moitié à mes yeux limpides, l'autre à mon tendre cœur. En vertu de quoi, ta beauté extérieure revient à mes yeux, et mon cœur a droit à l'affection intime de ton cœur.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 46, 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. 46
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: 127