Sonnet III | Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest

Look in thy glass and tell the face thou...

Language: English

Our translations: ITA

Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest
Now is the time that face should form another;
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
For where is she so fair whose unear'd womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity?
Thou art thy mother's glass and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime;
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time.
  But if thou live, remember'd not to be,
  Die single and thine image dies with thee.

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Text Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 3 [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), "Look in thy glass", op. 87 no. ?, from Shakespeare Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by James Mavin Parker , no title, 1976, published 1976 [ baritone, drs, violin, violoncello, piano, bass guitar, and electric guitar ], from Love Sonnets [sung text not yet checked]
by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet III", 1864 [ bass-baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by David Winkler , "Sonnet III", 1982 [ SATB quartet and piano ], from Cycle for Several Voices and Piano, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]

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. 3, first published 1863
FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 3, first published 1857

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-10-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 115