by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid
Language: English
Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace;
But now my gracious numbers are decay'd,
And my sick Muse doth give an other place.
I grant, sweet love, thy lovely argument
Deserves the travail of a worthier pen;
Yet what of thee thy poet doth invent
He robs thee of, and pays it thee again.
He lends thee virtue, and he stole that word
From thy behaviour; beauty doth he give,
And found it in thy cheek: he can afford
No praise to thee, but what in thee doth live.
Then thank him not for that which he doth say,
Since what he owes thee, thou thyself dost pay.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 79 [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 LXXIX", 1865-6 [ 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. 79, 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: 117
Tant que seul j'ai invoqué ton aide
Language: French (Français) after the English
Tant que seul j'ai invoqué ton aide, mon vers seul a possédé toute ta gentille grâce ; mais maintenant mes nombres gracieux sont déchus, et ma muse malade cède la place à une autre. Je conviens, doux amour, que ton aimable sujet mérite le travail d'une plume plus digne ; pourtant ce qu'invente sur toi ton poëte, c'est à toi qu'il le dérobe pour te le restituer. Il te prête la vertu, et il a volé ce mot-là à ta conduite ; il te donne la beauté, et il l'a trouvée sur ta joue : il ne peut t'apporter un éloge qui ne respire en toi. Donc, ne le remercie pas de ce qu'il dit, puisque c'est toi-même qui acquittes sa dette envers toi.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 79, 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. 79
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: 120