by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
I grant thou wert not married to my Muse
Language: English
I grant thou wert not married to my Muse,
And therefore mayst without attaint o'erlook
The dedicated words which writers use
Of their fair subject, blessing every book.
Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,
Finding thy worth a limit past my praise;
And therefore art enforced to seek anew
Some fresher stamp of the time-bettering days.
And do so, love; yet when they have devis'd,
What strained touches rhetoric can lend,
Thou truly fair, wert truly sympathiz'd
In true plain words, by thy true-telling friend;
And their gross painting might be better us'd
Where cheeks need blood; in thee it is abus'd.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 82 [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 LXXXII", 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. 82, 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: 105
Je conviens que tu n'es pas marié à ma...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Je conviens que tu n'es pas marié à ma muse, et qu'ainsi tu peux sans crime jeter les yeux sur ces phrases de dédicace que les écrivains adressent à leur héros, -- bénédictions de tous les livres ! Tu es aussi accompli par la science que par la beauté, et tu trouves tes mérites au-dessus de mes éloges ; aussi es-tu forcé de demander un portrait plus éclatant à des peintres plus en vogue. Fais, amour ! mais quand ils auront imaginé toutes les touches forcées que peut fournir la rhétorique, tu n'auras trouvé de vraie sympathie pour ta perfecteon si vraie que dans le langage simplement vrai de ton véridique ami. Et leur peinture grossière conviendrait mieux à des joues où le sang manque : chez toi, elle fait abus.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 82, 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. 82
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: 126