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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)

Thy glass will show thee how thy...
Language: English 
Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste;
These vacant leaves thy mind's imprint will bear,
And of this book, this learning mayst thou taste.
The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show
Of mouthed graves will give thee memory;
Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know
Time's thievish progress to eternity.
Look! what thy memory cannot contain,
Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find
Those children nursed, deliver'd from thy brain,
To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.
      These offices, so oft as thou wilt look,
      Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 77 [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 LXXVII", 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. 77, first published 1857


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 107

Ta glace te montrera comment s'usent tes...
Language: French (Français)  after the English 
Ta glace te montrera comment s'usent tes beautés ; 
ton cadran, comment se perdent tes minutes précieuses. 
Ces feuilles blanches porteront l'empreinte de ton esprit, 
et ce livre contiendra pour toi une science.
Les rides, que ta glace te montrera fidèlement, 
te feront souvenir des tombes béantes : 
le pas furtif de l'ombre sur le cadran te fera connaître 
la marche clandestine du temps vers l'éternité.
Eh bien, ce que ton souvenir ne peut garder, 
confie-le à ces pages vides : tu y retrouveras bercés 
les enfants sortis de ton cerveau, 
en prenant de ton âme une connaissance nouvelle.
  Ces mémoires, chaque fois que tu les consulteras, 
  te seront utiles et feront la richesse de ce livre.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 77, 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. 77
    • Go to the text page.

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: 2010-08-18
Line count: 14
Word count: 114

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