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Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie, --
A closet never pierc'd with crystal eyes --
But the defendant doth that plea deny,
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To side this title is impannelled
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart;
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eye's moiety, and the dear heart's part:
As thus; mine eye's due is thy outward part,
And my heart's right, thy inward love of heart.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 46 [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 XLVI", 1865 [ duet for soprano and alto with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joel Weiss , "Sonnet 46", 1995 [ 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. 46, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Sonetto XLVI", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 115
Ho gli occhi e il cuore in mortale conflitto
su come, della persona tua, spartirsi la conquista;
Gli occhi vorrebbero al cuore nascondere il tuo aspetto,
ma un siffatto diritto il cuore agli occhi contesta.
Che tu in lui dimori, a sua difesa, il cuore afferma --
e si dichiara scrigno inviolato da sguardo penetrante --
ma l'avversario tale argomento prontamente nega
dicendo che è in lui che giace il tuo gentile sembiante.
Per emetter sentenza viene convocato
un giurì di pensieri, tutti fedeli al cuore;
sì che, con il verdetto, è già determinato
ciò che agli occhi spetta, e cosa al cuore assegnare:
E così: agli occhi spetta il tuo aspetto esteriore,
ma il mio cuore ha diritto sul tuo profondo amore.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2013 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. 46
This text was added to the website: 2013-09-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 121