Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at
If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
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:
Based on:
- 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