by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
My love is as a fever, longing still
Language: English
Our translations: ITA
My love is as a fever, longing still For that which longer nurseth the disease, Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill, [The uncertain]1 sickly appetite to please. My reason, the physician to my love, Angry that his prescriptions are not kept, Hath left me, and I desperate now approve Desire is death, which physic did except. Past cure I am, now Reason is past care, And frantic-mad with evermore unrest; My thoughts and my discourse as madmen's are, At random from the truth vainly express'd; For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright, Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Diamond: "Th'uncertain"
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 147 [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 David Leo Diamond (1915 - 2005), "My love is as a fever, longing still", 1964, published 1967 [ high voice and piano ], from We Two, no. 6, New York : Southern [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Noël Lee (1924 - 2013), "My love is as a fever", 1996 [ bass-baritone, clarinet, horn, and contrabass ], from Sonnets de soleil, de sanglots - Four Songs from Shakespeare, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet CXLVII", 1866 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fabian Svensson (b. 1980), "My love is as a fever", 1997-1998, first performed 1998 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (L. A. J. Burgersdijk)
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 147, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Come una febbre è l’amore che provo", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller
This text was added to the website: 2005-08-31
Line count: 14
Word count: 107