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How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame
Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose,
Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name!
O! in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose.
That tongue that tells the story of thy days,
Making lascivious comments on thy sport,
Cannot dispraise, but in a kind of praise;
Naming thy name, blesses an ill report.
O! what a mansion have those vices got
Which for their habitation chose out thee,
Where beauty's veil doth cover every blot
And all things turns to fair that eyes can see!
Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege;
The hardest knife ill-us'd doth lose his edge.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 95 [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 XCV", 1866 [ 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. 95, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2025, (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: 112
Quanto sai rendere amabile e dolce la vergogna, che, come un verme in un fiore profumato, intacca la bellezza della tua fama che sboccia! Oh! In quali dolcezze celi ogni tuo peccato! Ogni lingua che narri la storia dei tuoi giorni, che qualche lasciva allusione ai tuoi svaghi accresce, non lo fa con disprezzo, ma quasi in forma di elogi, e usando il nome tuo, la maldicenza addolcisce. Oh! Quale sontuoso palazzo quei vizi alberga che te hanno eletto per dimora trovare, dove un velo di bellezza copre ogni macchia ed è volta in grazia ogni cosa che appare! Di questo grande privilegio, cuor mio, abbi cura, se usata male, perde il suo taglio anche la lama più dura.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2025 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. 95
This text was added to the website: 2025-07-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 119