by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
Was it the proud full sail of his great...
Language: English
Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,
Bound for the prize of (all too precious) you,
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse,
Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew?
Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write,
Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead?
No, neither he, nor his compeers by night
Giving him aid, my verse astonished.
He, nor that affable familiar ghost
Which nightly gulls him with intelligence,
As victors of my silence cannot boast,
I was not sick of any fear from thence.
But when your countenance fill'd up his line,
Then lacked I matter, that enfeebled mine.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 86 [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 LXXXVI", 1866 [ soprano, SSTB chorus, and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 86, first published 1857
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 110
Est‑ce cette poésie grandiose, dont la...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Est-ce cette poésie grandiose, dont la voile fière a entrepris la capture de vos trop précieux trésors, qui a enterré dans mon cerveau mes mûres pensées, et leur a donné pour tombe la matrice où elles étaient nées ? Est-ce cet esprit, à qui les esprits ont appris à écrire des choses surhumaines, qui m'a frappé à mort ? Non, ni lui, ni les compères qui la nuit lui prêtent leur aide, n'ont effaré ma poésie. Ni lui, ni cet affable spectre familier qui le leurre nuitamment de ses inspirations, ne peuvent en vainqueurs se vanter de mon silence. Ce n'est pas la crainte de ce rival qui m'a paralysé. Mais, dès que votre patronage a rehaussé sa poésie, la mienne n'a plus eu de sujet ; et c'est ce qui l'a fait languir.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 86, 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. 86
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: 131