by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
How heavy do I journey on the way
Language: English
Our translations: ITA
How heavy do I journey on the way,
When what I seek, my weary travel's end,
Doth teach that ease and that repose to say,
'Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend!'
The beast that bears me, tired with my woe,
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by some instinct the wretch did know
His rider lov'd not speed, being made from thee:
The bloody spur cannot provoke him on,
That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide,
Which heavily he answers with a groan,
More sharp to me than spurring to his side;
For that same groan doth put this in my mind,
My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 50 [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 Benjamin Burrows (1891 - 1966), "Sonnet L", 1928 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet L", [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. 50, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2024, (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: 118
Comme j'avance péniblement sur la route
Language: French (Français) after the English
Comme j'avance péniblement sur la route, quand le lieu où je vais, but de mon pénible voyage, fait dire à mon repos, fait dire à mon bonheur : » Tous les milles que tu mesures t'éloignent d'autant de ton ami. « La bête qui me porte, accablée de ma douleur, se traîne tristement pour porter ce poids en moi ; comme si, par quelque instinct, la malheureuse savait que son cavalier n'aime pas la vitesse qui l'éloigné de toi. L'éperon sanglant ne peut plus l'exciter, quand parfois ma colère l'enfonce dans sa peau ; elle y répond par un gémissement pénible, plus douloureux pour moi que l'éperon pour son côté. Car ce gémissement me rappelle que mon ennui est en avant, et ma joie en arrière.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 50, 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. 50
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: 123