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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)

Those hours, that with gentle work did...
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
Those hours, that with gentle work did frame
The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,
Will play the tyrants to the very same
And that unfair which fairly doth excel;
For never-resting time leads summer on
To hideous winter, and confounds him there;
Sap checked with frost, and lusty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o'er-snowed and bareness every where:
Then were not summer's distillation left,
A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,
Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,
Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was:
  But flowers distill'd, though they with winter meet,
  Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 5 [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 Dorothea Austin , "Those hours, that with gentle work did frame", 1985-6 [ narrator and woodwind quintet ], from Mirrors, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Stephan Baekers , "Shakespeare -- Sonnet V", 1984 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Michael G. Cunningham (b. 1937), "Those hours, that with gentle work did frame", op. 112 no. ? (1985) [ medium-high voice and piano ], from Shakespeare Sonnets, Set 2 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by David Loeb , "Those hours, that with gentle work did frame", 1980 [ baritone and piano ], from Three Shakespeare Sonnets [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet V", 1864 [ low voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by David Winkler , "Sonnet V", 1978 [ mezzo-soprano, tenor and instrumental ensemble (10 instruments) ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by David Winkler , "Sonnet V", 1981 [ SATB quartet and piano ], from Cycle for Several Voices and Piano, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Latvian (Latviešu valoda), a translation by A. Balodis ; composed by Pauls Miervaldis Dambis.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

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. 5, first published 1863
  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 5, first published 1857
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-10-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 104

Ces mêmes Heures, qui ont formé par un...
Language: French (Français)  after the English 
Ces mêmes Heures, qui ont formé par un travail exquis 
ce type admirable où se plaisent tous les yeux, 
deviendront impitoyables pour lui, 
et disgracieront ce qui est la grâce suprême.
Car le temps infatigable traîne l'été 
au hideux hiver et l'y absorbe : 
la gelée fige la séve, les feuilles les plus vigoureuses tombent toutes, 
la beauté est sous l'avalanche, la désolation partout !
Alors, si la goutte distillée par l'été ne restait, 
prisonnière liquide, enfermée dans des parois cristallines, 
la beauté ne se reproduirait pas ; 
et rien ne resterait d'elle, pas même le souvenir !
  Mais les fleurs, qui ont distillé leur séve, ont beau subir l'hiver ;
  elles ne perdent que leur feuillage et gardent toujours vivace leur essence parfumée.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 5, first published 1857 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 5
    • Go to the text page.

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

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-08-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 119

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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