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

O, that you were yourself! but, love,...
Language: English 
Our translations:  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)

Text 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) , no title, appears in Шекспир Уильям - сонеты (Shekspir Uil'jam - sonety) = Sonnets of William Shakespeare, no. 13 ; composed by Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky.
    • Go to the text.

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)

Text 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]

Based on:

  • a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 13
    • 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: 120

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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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