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

Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye,
That thou consum'st thy self in single life?
Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die,
The world will wail thee like a makeless wife;
The world will be thy widow and still weep
That thou no form of thee hast left behind,
When every private widow well may keep
By children's eyes, her husband's shape in mind:
Look what an unthrift in the world doth spend
Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it;
But beauty's waste hath in the world an end,
And kept unused the user so destroys it.
  No love toward others in that bosom sits
  That on himself such murd'rous shame commits.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 9 [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 Juriaan Andriessen (1925 - 1996), "Sonnet no. 9", published 1970 [ alto; one musician for chalumeau and/or clarinet and percussion; one for viola da gamba and percussion; and one for clavicembalo, portatief [org], and percussion ], from To Wet a Widow's Eye [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Stefan Lienenkämper , "Sonett 9", published 2006 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Vier Lieder nach Sonetten von W. Shakespeare, no. 2, Helmstadt : HH Musikverlag [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet IX", 1865 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by David Winkler , "Sonnet IX", 1982 [ SATB quartet and piano ], from Cycle for Several Voices and Piano, no. 9 [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. 9, first published 1863
  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 9, first published 1857
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "E' forse per timore di pianto vedovile", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-10-08
Line count: 14
Word count: 118

Est‑ce par crainte de mouiller l'œil...
Language: French (Français)  after the English 
Est-ce par crainte de mouiller l'œil d'une veuve 
que tu te consumes dans une vie solitaire ? 
Ah ! si tu viens à mourir sans enfants, 
la création te pleurera, comme une épouse son époux.
La création sera ta veuve, et se désolera toujours 
de ce que tu n'aies pas laissé d'image de toi derrière toi : 
tandis qu'il est donné à toute veuve de retrouver 
dans le visage de ses enfants les traits de son mari.
Écoute ! ce qu'un prodigue dépense dans ce monde 
ne fait que changer de place, car le monde en jouit toujours ; 
mais la beauté stérile a sa fin dans ce monde, 
et c'est la détruire que de ne pas l'employer.
  L'amour d'autrui n'est pas dans le cœur de celui 
  qui commet sur lui-même ce suicide honteux.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 9, 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. 9
    • 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: 129

Gentle Reminder

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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