by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
Let not my love be call'd idolatry
Language: English
Let not my love be call'd idolatry,
Nor my beloved as an idol show,
Since all alike my songs and praises be
To one, of one, still such, and ever so.
Kind is my love to-day, to-morrow kind,
Still constant in a wondrous excellence;
Therefore my verse to constancy confin'd,
One thing expressing, leaves out difference.
'Fair, kind, and true,' is all my argument,
'Fair, kind, and true,' varying to other words;
And in this change is my invention spent,
Three themes in one, which wondrous scope affords.
Fair, kind, and true, have often liv'd alone,
Which three till now, never kept seat in one.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 105 [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 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet CV - Let not my love", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 1 no. 19 (1944-7) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet CV", 1865 [ vocal trio for mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass with 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. 105, first published 1857
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 105
Qu'on ne traite pas mon amour...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Qu'on ne traite pas mon amour d'idolâtrie, ni mon bien-aimé d'idole, parce que mes chants et mes louanges, sans cesse dédiés à lui, ne parlent que de lui, encore et toujours les mêmes ! Charmant est mon bien-aimé, aujourd'hui comme demain, constant à jamais dans sa merveilleuse excellence : aussi ma poésie, forcée à la constance, n'exprimant qu'une seule chose, ne connaît pas la digression. Beauté, bonté, vertu, voilà tout mon sujet. Beauté, bonté, vertu, voilà mon refrain en mots divers, et c'est dans la variante que je dépense mon imagination. Thème merveilleux que cette trinité en une seule personne ! Beauté, bonté, vertu, ont longtemps vécu séparées ; et c'est la première fois que toutes trois sont réunies.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 105, 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. 105
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: 2010-08-19
Line count: 14
Word count: 115