Hast thou,the master-mistress of my passion;
A woman’s gentle heart,but not acquainted
With shifting change,as is false women’s fashion;
An eye more bright than theirs,less false in rolling,
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;
A man in hue,all ‘hues’in his controlling,
Which steals men’s eyes and women’s souls amazeth.
And for a woman wert thou first created;
Till Nature,as she wrought thee,fell a –doing,
And by addition me of thee defeatd,
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
But since she prick’d thee out for women’s pleasur,
mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.
-selected from Shakespeare's Sonnets
Translation:
You have a beautiful face like a woman, which was sculpted by the creator himself.
Your beauty makes us regard you as our beloved mistress and lover:
You are as gentle as a woman.
Your eyes are brighter than hers, but less hypocritical:
Your eyes are flowing, and everything is plated with gold:
You are as graceful as you, above all elegant things,
You dazzle men and make women fall.
the creator wanted to make you a beautiful woman,
but she was fascinated by you,
adding something to you by mistake,
but it didn't help me at all.
since the creator's purpose is to make you please women,
give me love and leave the lust for them to enjoy!
Sonnet 18Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; NOR SHALL DEATH BRAGHOU WANDER 'ST IN HISSHADE, WHEN IN ETERNAL LINES TO TIME THOUW EST: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this and this gives life to them. How can I compare you to summer? You are not only lovelier than it, but also gentler than it: the tender buds beloved by May are tortured by the strong wind, and the time limit for renting in summer is too short: the eyes in the sky sometimes shine too fiercely, and its shining golden face is often covered: all beautiful things are inevitably withered and destroyed by chance or natural metabolism; but your eternal summer will not fade, nor will you lose your goodness: death can't boast that you wander in his shadow, and you are eternal.
When, In Disgrace With Fortune and Men's Eyes
by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
When，in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
for thy sweet love member's d such wealth brings
that then I score to change my state with kings.
When my fortune slips, I am looked down upon-Shakespeare
When my fortune slips, I am looked down upon.
lamenting my incommensurable situation alone,
disturbing the deaf heaven with wailing in vain,
looking back on my own care and cursing my destiny,
wishing everything goes well like others,
being as handsome as this one and making friends as a cloud,
wanting such talent and knowledge,
what I have.
I almost give up on myself when I think of these things.
Suddenly I think of you, and my mood is
like a lark flying high from the gloomy earth at dawn,
singing a hymn to heaven;
I am so rich to think of your love.
At this moment, I disdain to be displaced from the king.