Je n'ai jamais vu que vous eussiez besoin de fard

Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)

I never saw that you did painting need

Language: English

I never saw that you did painting need,
And therefore to your fair no painting set;
I found, or thought I found, you did exceed
That barren tender of a poet's debt:
And therefore have I slept in your report,
That you yourself, being extant, well might show
How far a modern quill doth come too short,
Speaking of worth, what worth in you doth grow.
This silence for my sin you did impute,
Which shall be most my glory being dumb;
For I impair not beauty being mute,
When others would give life, and bring a tomb.
      There lives more life in one of your fair eyes
      Than both your poets can in praise devise.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 83 [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 LXXXIII", 1865. [medium voice or high voice and piano] [
text not verified
]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, from Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 83, published 1857

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 116

Je n'ai jamais vu que vous eussiez...

Language: French (Français) after the English

Je n'ai jamais vu que vous eussiez besoin de fard ;
aussi n'en mets-je point à votre belle figure. 
J'ai trouvé ou cru trouver que votre créance excédait 
l'offre misérable de la poésie.
Aussi ai-je endormi ma muse à votre sujet, 
afin que vous-même, resté debout, 
vous pussiez bien démontrer combien une plume vulgaire est insuffisante 
pour parler des mérites qui fleurissent en vous.
Ce silence, vous me l'avez imputé à crime, 
mais ce sera ma plus grande gloire d'être resté muet ; 
car, en ne disant rien, je ne dépare pas cette beauté 
à qui tant d'autres, en voulant donner la vie, n'apportent qu'une tombe.
  Il y a plus de vie dans un seul de vos beaux yeux 
  que dans tous les éloges imaginés par deux de vos poëtes.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship:

by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 83, 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. 83

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: 2010-08-18
Line count: 14
Word count: 130