by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art
Language: English
Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel; For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel. Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold, Thy face hath not the power to make love groan: To say they err I dare not be so bold, Although I swear it to myself alone. And to be sure that is not false I swear, A thousand groans, but thinking on thy face, One on another's neck, do witness bear Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place. In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds, And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 131 [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 Juriaan Andriessen (1925 - 1996), "Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art", from Thy black is fairest, 3 Shakespeare-sonnets, no. 2. [text verified 1 time]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet CXXXI", 1866. [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. 131, published 1857
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 119
Telle que tu es, tu es aussi tyrannique...
Language: French (Français)  after the English
Telle que tu es, tu es aussi tyrannique que celles que rend cruelles l'orgueil de leur beauté : car tu sais bien que, pour mon pauvre cœur qui radote, tu es le plus charmant et le plus précieux bijou. Pourtant, il faut l'avouer, il en est qui disent en te voyant que ton visage n'a pas le pouvoir de faire soupirer l'amour ; je n'ose pas dire qu'ils se trompent, bien que je me le jure à moi-même. Et, pour prouver que je jure la vérité, mille soupirs, à la seule pensée de ta personne, viennent, les uns à la suite des autres, témoigner que tes yeux noirs sont pour moi les plus beaux. Tu n'es noire en rien, si ce n'est en tes actions : et ce sont elles, à mon avis, qui donnent lieu à la calomnie.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 131, 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. 131
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: 139