by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
O! how I faint when I of you do write
Language: English
O! how I faint when I of you do write,
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,
And in the praise thereof spends all his might,
To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame!
But since your worth -- wide as the ocean is, --
The humble as the proudest sail doth bear,
My saucy bark, inferior far to his,
On your broad main doth wilfully appear.
Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,
Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride;
Or, being wrack'd, I am a worthless boat,
He of tall building, and of goodly pride:
Then if he thrive and I be cast away,
The worst was this, -- my love was my decay.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 80 [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 LXXX", 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. 80, 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: 116
Oh ! que je me sens faible en écrivant...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Oh ! que je me sens faible en écrivant sur vous, quand je sais qu'un esprit supérieur fait usage de votre nom et emploie toute sa puissance à le chanter, enchaînant ma langue en parlant de votre gloire ! Mais puisque votre perfection, vaste comme l'Océan, peut porter la plus humble comme la plus fière voile, ma barque impertinente, bien inférieure à la sienne, se hasarde volontiers sur votre immensité. Votre plus mince appui suffit à me tenir à flot, tandis qu'il vogue sur votre abîme insondable. Si je naufrage, je ne suis qu'un mauvais bateau ; lui, il est de haut bord et de grandiose voilure. Si donc il réussit et si je chavire, mon pire malheur aura été de périr par amour.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 80, 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. 80
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: 121