In youth, when I did love, did love, Methought it was very sweet, To contract, O, the time, for, ah, my behove, O, methought, there was nothing meet. But age, with his stealing steps, Hath claw'd me in his clutch, And hath shipped me intil the land, As if I had never been such. A pick-axe, and a spade, a spade, For and a shrouding sheet: O, a pit of clay for to be made For such a guest is meet.
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Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Hamlet, Act V, Scene 1 [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 Wolfgang Fortner (1907 - 1987), "The gravedigger", 1946, published 1947 [ voice and piano ], from Songs nach Texten von William Shakespeare mit Klavierbegleitung , no. 11, Mainz : Schott, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Noël Lee (1924 - 2013), "The Gravedigger's Song", subtitle: "Chant du fossoyeur", 1953 [ baritone, unaccompanied ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Danish (Dansk), a translation by Edvard Lembcke (1815 - 1897) ; composed by Peter Arnold Heise.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Wilhelm Petersen.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Carl Loewe.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Georg Mantey ; composed by Wolfgang Fortner.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Friedrich Hieronymus Truhn.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890 - 1960) ; composed by Georgiy Vasil'yevich Sviridov.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-10-21
Line count: 12
Word count: 81
Ne chajal v molodye dni Ja v devushkakh dushi I dumal, tol'ko tem oni Odnim i khoroshi. No tikho starost' podoshla I za ruku vzjala, I vse umchalos' bez sleda Nevedomo kuda. Beri zh lopatu i kirku I novyj savan shej, I roj mogilu stariku Na vodvoren'e v nej. A!_____________
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Note on TransliterationsShow untransliterated (original) text
Text Authorship:
- by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890 - 1960) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Hamlet, Act V, Scene 1
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Georgiy Vasil'yevich Sviridov (1915 - 1998), "Песня могильщика" [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2021-08-26
Line count: 13
Word count: 50