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Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws, And make the earth devour her own sweet brood; Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws, And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood; Make glad [and]1 sorry seasons as thou fleets, As do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time, To the wide world and [all]2 her fading sweets; But I forbid thee one most heinous crime: O! carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow, Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen; Him in thy course untainted do allow For beauty's pattern to succeeding men. Yet, do thy worst old Time: despite thy wrong, My love shall in my verse ever live young.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Bachlund: "the"
2 omitted by Bachlund.
Authorship
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 19 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Sonnet XIX - "Devouring Time"", 2002 [high voice or medium voice and piano], from Five Sonnets, no. 3 [ sung text checked 1 time]
- by Miriam Gideon (1906 - 1996), "Sonnet XIX: Devouring Time", 1949 [voice and piano, or voice and trumpet and string quartet (or string orchestra)], from Sonnets from Shakespeare, no. 2 [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XIX", 1862-5 [medium voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Flavio Testi (b. 1923), "cantata seconda (devouring time)", op. 24 (1972), published 1973, first performed 1973 [tenor, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, violin, and piano], Milan: Ricordi [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 19, first published 1857
- FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot) , appears in Œuvres Complètes de Shakspeare Volume VIII, in Sonnets, no. 19, first published 1863
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Sonnet XIX - "O tempo divorante"", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- RUS Russian (Русский) (Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky) , "Сонет 19", written 1914
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2007-05-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 115
O Tempo divorante, spunta al leone gli artigli, fa' che la terra divori la sua dolce prole, al morso della tigre i denti aguzzi togli e nel suo stesso sangue ardi la fenice immortale. Alterna nel tuo volo stagioni liete e infelici, fa' tutto ciò che vuoi, o tempo piè-veloce, a tutto il vasto mondo e alle sue gioie fugaci; Ma ti proibisco un delitto, fra tutti il più feroce; Oh! Non incidere con le tue ore la fronte del mio amato, no, non segnarvi solchi con il tuo antico pennello; lui, nella tua corsa, lascialo intoccato, agli uomini futuri, di bellezza modello. Ma fanne pure scempio, vecchio Tempo: a tuo dispetto Il mio amato vivrà, nei miei versi, sempre giovane e intatto.
Authorship
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2007 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.
Contact:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 19
This text was added to the website: 2007-05-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 123