by Anonymous / Unidentified Author and sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Take, o take those lips away
Language: English 
Available translation(s): FRE GER
Take, o take those lips away,
That so sweetly were forsworn;
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn:
But my kisses bring again;
Seals of love, but seal'd in vain, sealed in vain.

Hide, o hide those hills of snow
that thy frozen bosom wears,
On whose tops the pinks that grow
are yet of those that April wears;
But first set my poor heart free,
Bound in those icy chains by thee.

F. Ayres sets stanza 1
R. Quilter sets stanza 1
P. Warlock sets stanza 1 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information
W. Fortner sets stanza 1
N. Lee sets stanza 1
H. Gál sets stanza 1
S. Gerber sets stanza 1
J. Kaufer sets stanza 1
W. Jackson sets stanza 1
J. Hall sets stanza 1

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with footnotes
Note: quoted by John Fletcher, in Bloody Brother, 1639 and by William Shakespeare, in Measure for Measure, Act IV, scene 1, c1604 (just one stanza)

Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
  • sometimes misattributed to William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Dutch (Nederlands), a translation by Emmanuel Hiel (1834 - 1899) , "Trek de lippen vol venijn", appears in Gedichten, in Twaalf liederen van Shakespere, no. 7, first published 1868 ; composed by Petrus Leonardus Leopoldus "Peter" Benoit.
  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929) , "Chanson d'amour", first published 1896 ; composed by Mel Bonis.
  • Also set in French (Français), adapted by Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929) [an adaptation] ; composed by Ernest Amédée Chausson.
  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Jean-François-Victor Aicard (1848 - 1921) [an adaptation] ; composed by Jules Massenet.
  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Henri-Pierre Poupard, as Henri Sauguet.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767 - 1845) ; composed by Wilhelm Killmayer, Wilhelm Petersen.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , from Herder's Volksliedern ; composed by Otto Claudius, Karl Sigmund Freiherr von Seckendorff.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Georg Mantey ; composed by Wolfgang Fortner.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Alfons Graff.
  • Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Jan Karol Gall.

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

  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (L. A. J. Burgersdijk)
  • FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Paavo Cajander)
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Sarah L. Weller) , "Nimm, so nimm doch Deine Lippen fort", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • POL Polish (Polski) (Jan Kasprowicz) , "Śpiew Pacholęcia", Warsaw, first published 1907


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-04
Line count: 12
Word count: 79