by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
In the old age black was not counted...
Language: English
In the old age black was not counted fair,
Or if it were, it bore not beauty's name;
But now is black beauty's successive heir,
And beauty slander'd with a bastard shame:
For since each hand hath put on Nature's power,
Fairing the foul with Art's false borrowed face,
Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower,
But is profan'd, if not lives in disgrace.
Therefore my mistress' eyes are raven black,
Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seem
At such who, not born fair, no beauty lack,
Sland'ring creation with a false esteem:
Yet so they mourn becoming of their woe,
That every tongue says beauty should look so.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 127 [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 CXXVII", 1866 [ 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. 126, 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: 111
Dans le vieux temps, la brune n'était...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Dans le vieux temps, la brune n'était pas trouvée belle, ou, si elle l'était, elle ne portait pas le nom de la beauté. Mais aujourd'hui la brune hérite de la beauté par succession, et la calomnie par des attraits bâtards. Depuis que la main humaine a usurpé le pouvoir de la nature, en embellissant la laideur par un masque mensonger, la beauté idéale n'a plus de nom, plus de moment sacré, mais elle est profanée, si elle ne vit pas en disgrâce. Les yeux de ma maîtresse sont noirs comme le corbeau, et cette couleur leur sied ; car ils semblent porter le deuil de toutes ces beautés qui, n'étant pas nées blondes, calomnient la création par une fausse apparence. Mais la couleur du deuil va si bien à ses yeux chagrins que tout le monde dit : » La beauté devrait être brune. «
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 126, 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. 127
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: 2010-08-19
Line count: 14
Word count: 143