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If thou survive my well-contented day,
When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover,
Compare them with the bett'ring of the time,
And though they be outstripp'd by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme,
Exceeded by the height of happier men.
O! then vouchsafe me but this loving thought:
'Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age,
A dearer birth than this his love had brought,
To march in ranks of better equipage:
But since he died and poets better prove,
Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love'.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 32 [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 XXXII - If thou survive", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 1 no. 6 (1944-5) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir (1848 - 1918), "If thou survive my well-contented day", 1874 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XXXII", 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. 32, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Se sopravviverai a questa mia felice stagione", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-10-18
Line count: 14
Word count: 114
Se sopravviverai a questa mia felice stagione, quando l'avara Morte le ossa mie di polvere avrà coperto, e se, per avventura, ti capiterà l'occasione di rileggere i poveri versi del tuo amore già morto, confrontali con i versi migliori del tempo futuro, e, se pure ogni altra penna la mia avrà superato, tienili cari a causa del mio amore, non per lo stile loro, vinto dalla grandezza di un poeta più fortunato. Oh! Che a me solo questo amoroso pensiero sia dedicato: "Fosse sbocciata, la Musa del mio amico, in questi tempi fiorenti, un ben più caro frutto l'amore suo avrebbe generato, sì da poter sfilare a diritto fra i ranghi più eleganti. Ma poiché lui è ormai morto, e oggi ogni poeta è migliore Questi io leggerò per lo stile, ma lui per il suo amore.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2012 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 32
This text was added to the website: 2012-07-03
Line count: 14
Word count: 137