Sonnet I | From fairest creatures we desire increase

From fairest creatures we desire...

Language: English

Available translation(s): ITA

From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding:
  Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
  To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 1 [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 Michael G. Cunningham (b. 1937), "From fairest creature", op. 87 no. ? (1979), published c1980 [high voice and piano], from Shakespeare Songs [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Dennis M. Farrell , "Sonnet I", 1965, first performed 1966 [tenor or soprano and piano], from To a Soldier Dying Young [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by A. Oscar Haügland , "Sonnet No. 1", 1981, first performed 1982 [tenor or soprano and viola], from Three Shakespeare Songs [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Mamie Grace Leonard , "From fairest creatures", 1957 [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Stig Gustav Schönberg , "From fairest creatures we desire increase", op. 44 (1966), first performed 1968 [baritone and piano], from Shakespeare Songs [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet I", 1864 [high voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
by David Winkler , "Sonnet I", 1982 [SATB quartet and piano], from Cycle for Several Voices and Piano, no. 1 [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), a translation by Pierre Jean Jouve (1887 - 1976) , copyright © GER ITA ; composed by Serge Baudo.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist FRE FRE ITA ; composed by Paul Coenen.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Karl Joseph Simrock (1802 - 1876) FRE FRE ITA ; composed by Carl Joachim Ludwig.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Franz Alfons Wolpert (1917 - 1978) FRE FRE ITA ; composed by Franz Alfons Wolpert.
Also set in Serbian (Српски), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist FRE FRE GER ITA ; composed by Tugomir Vidanović.

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

FRE French (Français) (François Pierre Guillaume Guizot) , no title, appears in Œuvres Complètes de Shakspeare Volume VIII, in Sonnets, no. 1, first published 1863
FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 1, first published 1857
GER German (Deutsch) (Ludwig Reinhold Walesrode) , no title, appears in William Shakspeare's sämmtliche Gedichte, in 1. Sonette, no. 1, first published 1840

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-10-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 106