by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
O, that you were yourself! but, love,...
Language: English
Available translation(s): ITA
O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are No longer yours than you yourself here live: Against this coming end you should prepare, And your sweet semblance to some other give. So should that beauty which you hold in lease Find no determination: then you were Yourself again after yourself's decease, When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear. Who lets so fair a house fall to decay, Which husbandry in honour might uphold Against the stormy gusts of winter's day And barren rage of death's eternal cold? O, none but unthrifts! Dear my love, you know You had a father: let your son say so.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 13 [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 Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XIII", 1864 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Samuil Yakovlevich Marschak (1887 - 1964) , "Сонет XIII" ; composed by Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky.
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. 13, first published 1863
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 13, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Sonetto XIII", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-11-13
Line count: 14
Word count: 108
Oh ! si vous existiez par vous‑même !...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Oh ! si vous existiez par vous-même ! mais, ami, vous ne vous appartiendrez plus dès que vous aurez vécu votre vie ici-bas. Préparez-vous contre cette fin fatale, et donnez votre douce ressemblance à quelque autre. Par là, cette beauté, que vous avez à bail, n'aura pas de terme : ainsi vous vous survivrez, après votre décès même, dans cette douce famille qui gardera votre forme douce. Qui donc laisserait tomber en ruine une maison si belle, quand les soins du ménage pourraient la conserver en honneur contre les rafales des jours d'hiver et la rage funeste de cette bise éternelle, la mort ? Oh ! nul autre qu'un prodigue ! Cher amour, vous savez, vous avez eu un père : puisse votre fils en dire autant !
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 13, first published 1857 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 13
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: 128