by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
Two loves I have of comfort and despair
Language: English
Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman colour'd ill.
To win me soon to hell, my female evil,
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turn'd fiend,
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell;
But being both from me, both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another's hell:
Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 144 [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 CXLIV", 1866 [ medium voice or high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Another version of this text exists in the database.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 144, first published 1857
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 113
J'ai deux amours : l'un, ma consolation...
Language: French (Français) after the English
J'ai deux amours : l'un, ma consolation ; l'autre, mon désespoir, qui comme deux esprits ne cessent de me tenter. Mon bon ange est un homme vraiment beau, et mon mauvais est une femme fardée. Pour m'attirer vite en enfer, mon démon femelle entraîne loin de moi mon bon ange, et tâche de séduire mon saint pour en faire un diable, poursuivant sa pureté de sa ténébreuse ardeur. Mon bon ange est-il devenu démon ? Je puis le soupçonner sans l'affirmer directement. Mais, tous deux s'étant éloignés de moi et tous deux étant amis, j'imagine que le bon ange est dans l'enfer de l'autre. Pourtant je n'en serai jamais sûr, et je vivrai dans le doute, jusqu'à ce que mon mauvais ange ait embrasé le bon.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 144, 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. 144
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: 2010-08-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 123