by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth
Language: English
Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
My sinful earth these rebel powers array,
Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?
Why so large cost, having so short a lease,
Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?
Shall worms, inheritors of this excess,
Eat up thy charge? Is this thy body's end?
Then soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss,
And let that pine to aggravate thy store;
Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross;
Within be fed, without be rich no more:
So shall thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
And Death once dead, there's no more dying then.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 146 [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 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet CXLVI - Poor soul", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 1 no. 24 (1944-7) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet CXLVI", 1864 [ high 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. 146, first published 1857
- GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Flatter) , appears in Die Fähre, Englische Lyrik aus fünf Jahrhunderten, first published 1936
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 112
Pauvre âme, centre de ma terre...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Pauvre âme, centre de ma terre pécheresse, jouet des puissances rebelles qui t'enveloppent, pourquoi pâtis-tu intérieurement et te laisses-tu dépérir, en peignant tes murs extérieurs de si coûteuses couleurs ? Pourquoi, ayant un loyer si court, fais-tu de si grandes dépenses pour ta demeure éphémère ? Est-ce pour que les vers, héritiers de ce superflu, mangent à tes frais ? La fin de ton corps est-elle la tienne ? Âme, vis donc aux dépens de ton esclave, et laisse-le languir pour augmenter tes trésors. Achète la durée divine en vendant des heures de poussière. Nourris-toi au dedans, et ne t'enrichis plus au dehors. Ainsi tu te nourriras de la mort qui se nourrit des hommes ; et, la mort une fois morte, tu n'auras plus rien de mortel.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 146, 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. 146
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