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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Why is my verse so barren of new pride
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
Why is my verse so barren of new pride,
So far from variation or quick change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new-found methods and to compounds strange?
Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth and where they did proceed?
O, know, sweet love, I always write of you,
And you and love are still my argument;
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent:
  For as the sun is daily new and old,
  So is my love still telling what is told.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 76 [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 Daniel Ruyneman (1886 - 1963), "Sonnet of Shakespeare", 1949 [ voice and piano ], from Seven melodies, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet LXXVI", 1865-6 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Adolf Wallnöfer (1854 - 1946), "Sonet 76", op. 78 no. 3, published 1904 [ tenor and piano ], from 5 Sonnette von William Shakespeare, no. 3, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, also set in English [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1819 - 1892) ; composed by Adolf Wallnöfer.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Samuil Yakovlevich Marschak (1887 - 1964) , no title, appears in Шекспир Уильям - сонеты (Shekspir Uil'jam - sonety) = Sonnets of William Shakespeare, no. 76 ; composed by Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky.
    • Go to the text.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 76, first published 1857
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Perché il mio verso è spoglio di ogni nuovo ornamento", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-04
Line count: 14
Word count: 114

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