Translator Introduction
Professor Huang Bikang
Huang Bikang, PhD in Literature from Peking University ; currently a professor in the English Department, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University; International Senior Fellow at Durham University, UK (International Senior Fellow, 2017); Fulbright Research Scholar, USA 2004); Host of National Excellent Course. He once served as deputy director of the English Department of Peking University; member of the Foreign Language Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education; and dean of the Shenzhen Graduate School of Peking University. research direction : British literature research; Shakespeare research; American studies. Published 4 academic monographs, 2 translations, more than 30 academic papers, and more than 10 national-level planning textbooks.
Introduction to the translator
Preface to the book series
Translator's preface
Huang Bikang
(English Department, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University)
Shakespeare's sonnets are a ray of eternal flying color practice in the starry sky of English poetry.
Sonnets have a long history in Western literature. They began in Italy in the 13th century, flourished during the Renaissance, and were introduced to England in the early 16th century. The adopted lyric style.
Shakespeare's sonnets have a total of 154 poems, some praising the beauty of youth and long-lasting love; These poems are real to read, full of imagination and passion; the poem style is iambic pentameter, composed of three four lines and a double rhyme couplet, which start, change and combine, each forming a rhyme pattern, forming a graceful musical beauty. These 154 poems can be roughly divided into two categories in terms of narrative: the first 126 poems are written to a young aristocratic friend. The poet implores him to get married and have children so that his beauty will last forever in the world, and complains that he is unfaithful to friendship and takes advantage of opportunities to steal love; Jealous of his friend for alienating him for the sake of another poet's friendship, the poet eventually put aside his past and reconciled with the young man who was his friend and protector. In poems 127-152, the poet expresses his mixed feelings of lust and love and hate for his lover, a "dark-skinned lady": he loves her dark beauty and beauty, blames her for being ruthless and cruel, and treats the poet unkindly. Ignore her; I love her sexy appearance and sultry sensuality; I hate her lack of expertise in seducing the poet's friends. These remarkable interpersonal narrative characteristics prompted later generations to connect these poems with Shakespeare's own life, trying to decipher the clues of the poet's inner world. The British romantic poet William Wordsworth (William Wordsworth) once said: "It was the key (sonnets) that opened Shakespeare's heart." In fact, for today's poetry lovers, the appreciation value of the artwork itself often attracts more attention than the life of the artist himself. Each of Shakespeare's sonnets can be regarded as an independent work of art, from which one can read rich philosophical thoughts and emotions, wonderful images and rhetorical means, and what is conveyed in them is the charm of life. It is the temperament of poetry and the pleasure of aesthetics.
Of course, the artistic charm of each of Shakespeare's poems is also the source of pleasure for translators.
Chinese poets and scholars have translated a wealth of Shakespeare's sonnets. Excluding those who have translated the complete works of Shakespeare such as Zhu Shenghao and Liang Shiqiu , there have been nearly twenty single-line translations of Shakespeare's sonnets. Among them, the earliest ones and the most influential ones are the translations by Mr. Liang Zongdai, Mr. Tu An and Mr. Yang Xiling. These translators are all poets. They copied the sonnet style in their translations, and tried hard to reproduce the artistic conception, form and rhythm of the original poem within the constraints of formal equivalence. They translated Shakespeare into a poetic one, with many lines of poetry revealed. The charm of philosophy and poetry is also perfectly translated in appearance. Their complete translation has enlightened and infected generations of Chinese readers and Shakespeare poetry lovers. It should be the best in Chinese translation of English poetry. It also played a role in promoting the formation of Chinese style sonnets. Since the reform and opening up, there has been a Shakespeare craze in China, which has promoted the development of Chinese Shakespeare studies. New full translations of Shakespeare's sonnets have been published continuously.Among the more influential translators are Gu Zhengkun, Cao Minglun, Shi Yingzhou, etc. Most of these translators are Shakespeare scholars, and their translated poems also follow the style of the sonnet, trying to fit the line number and rhyme in form, and strive to reproduce the artistic conception and poetic flavor of the original poem while staying true to the meaning of the original poem. , close to the rhythm and rhythm of the original poem. His choice of words and sentences may be solemn and mysterious, interesting both in modern and ancient times, or elegant and elegant, both elegant and popular. He pursues similarity in form, or closely follows the rhyme and rhyme of the original poem, and does not hesitate to twist the words, or deliberately use lines and other words to arrange the appearance of the translated poem. It's square and square, quite satisfactory. These all reflect different translators’ understanding of Shakespeare’s sonnets, and reveal the translators’ own unique literary personality and aesthetic pursuits.
We know that during the Elizabethan era in England, early modern English experienced various language fusions and gradually took shape with the help of humanistic education and popular spoken language. Although Shakespeare did not have the elegant temperament of a "university scholar", he was immersed in the British Renaissance and poetry and drama. Among the popular culture, his language art comes from the hot life, and the elegance and the popular are harmonious; his sonnets not only express the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty, the helplessness of limited life and the yearning for eternity, but also condense It not only reflects the love and hatred in the world, but also echoes the mundane and even erotic joy, anger, laughter and curses. Therefore, Chinese translators or overseas Chinese translators with different cultural and academic backgrounds will inevitably have different understandings of the subtle details of the form or content of Shakespeare's poems, resulting in translations of Shakespeare's sonnets with different understandings, different words, and different styles. Poetry, no wonder.
I think that in the process of translating English poetry into Chinese, pursuing formal equivalence is a choice, but it is not the only choice. The activity of literary translation itself is a collision between the uncertainties of two languages, and a discussion, distortion and game between different national cultural spirits. A good translation reflects the specific linguistic features, national spirit and cultural style of the target language culture. How can we talk about formal equivalence or equivalence? From the perspective of poetic form, Chinese modern poetry has "five words" and "seven words", and is also divided into "quatrains" and "rhythm poems". Their level and rhythm are also regulated, but there are no ten-syllable pauses (or five-syllable steps). The form of four-line sentences; the number of words and lines of contemporary free-style prose poems is relatively free, and there is no requirement to make up fourteen lines and alternate lines of rhyme. Of course, the issue of creating Chinese style sonnets is a different matter. In such a different context conversion, the translated poem can pursue equivalence with the original poem in terms of number of words, lines, and rhymes. However, such equivalence does not have much meaning and significance for the understanding and appreciation of poetry in different cultural traditions. value. What's more, Western languages and Chinese belong to different language families and cultural traditions, and are very different in terms of formal structure and ideographic functions. Western translation theories mostly use Indo-European languages as a reference to interpret translation conversions between Chinese and English. There is also a lack of broad and deep understanding. Therefore, regardless of Catford’s (John Cunnison Catford) “translation equivalence theory” based on linguistics, Eugene Nida’s (Eugene Nida) “dynamic functional equivalence theory” based on communicative function, or Lawrence Venuti’s (Lawrence Venuti) ) highlights the translator and rebels against the dominant culture's "foreignization translation theory", or André Lefevere's "manipulation and rewriting theory" towards cultural studies. These Western translation theories have broad humanities academic and interdisciplinary research value, but For specific literary translation activities between Chinese and English, especially poetry translation, they have no specific guiding significance. As for the specific translation of poetry, they are only a general theoretical realm. We say that the most fundamental principle of translation is to be faithful to the original text, but the translator should not follow the tyranny of the so-called "original meaning" and do nothing. As for translated poetry, I believe that the greatest fidelity to the original poem lies not in the maximum equivalence between the two language forms, but in the accurate conveyance of the poetic spirit. Moreover, to a certain extent, the translation process is also an artistic re-creation process based on the translator’s own language understanding, cultural experience and artistic talent.In the process of translating Shakespeare's poems, if the translator compares various complete translations, and on the basis of being basically faithful to the meaning of the original poem, he must focus on the equivalence in the number of lines, the overlap of rhyme, or the meaning of individual words. , Doing so is tantamount to carving a boat to ask for a sword, and it will not help the translation. Of course, this is also an era of classic re-translation. There are many translators under the name of Shakespeare's poems. Among them, there will inevitably be some translators who will refer to the ready-made translations, ignore the left and right, and follow suit, which will lead to rigid and mistranslations. This is a minority.
I very much agree with this view: Shakespeare's sonnets have attracted enough Chinese translators. If a Chinese poetry style (such as prose poetry) is still used in the future, it will be re-translated strictly according to the style of British sonnets. , although some differences in understanding can be shown, such as the adjustment of sentence patterns, the wonderful use of beautiful words, the number of lines, and the irregularity or uniformity of rhyme. However, the overall pattern of such translated poems is still intertextual observation, with similar similarities and minor differences. This is a translator-based formal equivalence translation perspective, which expresses the translator's mentality of playing with his favorite artwork and partially displaying his language art. There is no new insight in the content of such a translated poem, and there is no new breakthrough in the form of the translated poem. Although it can provide corpus for academic translation criticism and appreciation discourse, in the hearts of Chinese readers, such re-translation cannot form a " "Refreshing" aesthetic impulse is difficult to arouse deep cultural resonance in readers' hearts.
Therefore, when I translated Shakespeare's sonnets, I broke with the previous practice of most translators who used equivalence in the number of lines per poem, approximately equal numbers of words in each line, and equivalence in form between rhymes and rhymes. Instead, I chose Chinese poems with different tunes. Translate Shakespeare's 154 sonnets in the form of long and short sentences, double tone or repeated tone with different numbers of words. We strive to base the form of translated poems on Chinese traditional culture, trace the poetic meaning of Shakespeare's sonnets, and actively " "Alienation" of the original poem form shows the formal beauty of Chinese poetry, conveys the artistic conception and image beauty of Chinese poetry, and expresses the melody beauty of Chinese lyrics and music. In this way, it can not only express the local language and cultural awareness and poetic tradition of the translator, but also enable Chinese readers to touch Shakespeare's poetic heart, arouse the aesthetic feelings of Chinese traditional culture deep in their hearts, and gain something from appreciating these translated poems. A Chinese discourse advantage and cultural confidence. So far, some translators have made sporadic attempts to use word styles, but this complete translation should be the first of its kind.
Specifically, the reason why I used the word form to fully translate Shakespeare's sonnets was that the two were consistent in content and artistic conception. Slightly earlier than Shakespeare, the lyricist Wang Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty believed that poetry mainly expresses aspirations and lyrics mainly express emotions. Although the words are used for entertainment and are of low skill, they are vivid and natural, most suitable for lyrical narratives, graceful and lingering. Tang Xianzu, a contemporary of Shakespeare, was also a master of lyrics and music in the Theory of Zhiqing: "The world is always about love, emotion gives rise to poetry, and it goes with the spirit"; and "Ci is Yanke", which is the so-called "love is true and relaxed, and thinking is deep" And the words are euphemistic." On the other hand, Shakespeare's sonnets have the word "love" running through them all. In the imagination and narrative about "love", in the intertwined emotions of love and hate, it brings out the poet's views on truth, goodness and beauty, life and death, finiteness and eternity. There is little of the boldness of "going eastward", and even less of the ambition of "getting angry". It can be said that Shakespeare's poems express love and resentment to reflect on life, and express grief and separation to express philosophical thoughts. The elegance and emotion of Chinese poetry and Shakespeare's sonnets are in harmony with each other, and they are in harmony with each other. When translating poems like Shakespeare's, if we do not deliberately pursue the rigid equivalence of word meanings and poetic forms in the two languages, but find another way to track the maximum "poetic similarity" between the two, the translation produced in this way should be the most able. Achieve the effect of "compatibility and mutual understanding".Moreover, by matching the length of the words, the cadence and rhyme, and the iambic pentameter rhyme of the translated original poem, you can not stick to the equivalence between the number of lines and the original poem, and there is less embarrassment in trying to make up the number of words. Using Chinese phonetic groups or tones to cater to the formal constraints of the meter and rhyme of the original poem eliminates the need for perfection in formal correspondence, but allows for more imagination and freedom in scenery, lyricism, and narrative. Liu Xie " Literary Mind Diaolong " The so-called "Poetry has a permanent content, but thoughts have no positioning" also applies to poetry translation. This should be a completely new realm of poetry translation! As for the content of the original poem, it can be flexibly expressed in the sentence fragments and fragments of the words. If so, why should we insist on complete formal equivalence between the translated poem and the original poem?
Of course, translation is not easy, and poetry is even harder to translate. It is most difficult to translate Shakespeare’s poems using old-style words with strict rhyme and rhythm. On one side is the style and rhythm of the original poem, as well as the ever-present "original meaning"; on the other side is the number of words, sentence patterns, combinations of levels, antitheses and rhyming methods specified by a certain word card. Being bound by so many formal chains, the translator must faithfully express the thoughts, feelings and poetic implications of the original poem, and also dance gracefully with the poetic flavor of Chinese culture. This is an ideal that cannot be fully achieved.
Fortunately, in today's cultural context of the 21st century, this is an ideal that is not necessary to achieve. The rhyme and rhythm of ancient words are not static, but are constantly changing to adapt to the development and changes of language and literature in different eras. Taking word rhyme as an example, from the Tang Dynasty's "Poetry Rhyme Filling", through the Yuan and Ming Dynasty's "Ci Lin Yao Yun", to the Qing Dynasty Ge Zai's " Ci Lin Zhengyun ", and then in 2004 based on Mandarin phonetic notation In "Chinese New Rhyme", the standards of word rhyme range from complex to simple, from strict to broad, based on language changes and the actual social pragmatics. The same goes for tones. From the Middle Ages, it was not only necessary to distinguish between the flat and oblique tones, but also to identify the upper, lower and entering tones in the oblique tones. Today, the principle of distinguishing between oblique and oblique tones is based on Mandarin's principle of "only distinguishing between oblique and oblique tones, not entering tones". This is also a continuous simplification. the process of. Facing the majority of today's readers and poetry lovers, if we cling to ancient methods in the process of writing lyrics and translating lyrics, and dare not go beyond the boundaries, then our translation work will either have to retreat or stop at nothing. Halfway through, either the feet are cut to fit the shoes, the translated poems will inevitably appear to be sculpted, and the vivid poetic meaning will inevitably be blocked and become fragmented. In order to illustrate the problem, try to compare the following different translations of Shakespeare's Sonnet 33 under the same word brand "Jade Butterfly":
I have seen the rising sun, the mountains are dyed, and the morning light is infinite. The green grass is green and the time is rich and fragrant. The stream flows, with shallow shade, golden light, and meandering brilliantly. Suddenly clouds hinder. Dark clouds fly across, and the golden crow is dim. confused. He hides his face and goes to the west. No one understands him, and he is only a single figure. I often think about it, facing the morning glow in the wind! It's a pity that I can enjoy the sun for a moment. Looking up, the clouds and mist cover the sun. That’s okay too. Love is flawless, and we hope to gain and lose together. (Translation Example 1)
I once saw the rising sun, the mountains and peaks were dyed, and the morning light was infinite. Green grass and lush green grass make distant thoughts bright and fragrant. The water and streams are dimly reflected, and the golden threads are scattered, meandering and shining. Fog and clouds hinder. The dark clouds go to cross, and the light dims the golden sun. confused. The sorrow goes to the west, no one understands it, and the body is alone. Looking back and thinking about it, I saw the glory of dawn in the wind! It's a pity that I have a moment of joy, looking up at the clouds and mist and the sun rising high. That’s okay too. The river of love has passed before, and the flaws are the same. (Translation Example 2)
The word brand used in this translation is "Jade Butterfly". There is Liu Yong's " Jade Butterfly·Looking at the Rain and Gathering Clouds " as a model. The whole word is a double tone with ninety-nine characters, and the first paragraph has five flat rhymes. The second section has six levels of rhyme. According to the phonology of "Ci Lin Zheng Yun", the second translation without exception conforms to the rhythm and rhyme requirements of the "Jade Butterfly" word pattern. However, it shows a lot of carving marks in order to set the characters in rhythm, distorting the original meaning. There was also some stumbling. In contrast, in the translation example 1, in addition to the number of characters in the whole word being consistent with the word card regulations, there are many discrepancies in the level and rhyme. There are two rhyming problems: the second sentence of the second sentence "single" is "fourteen". "Cold" does not rhyme with "Qiyang" in this word; the last word "wang" should rhyme with plain rhyme. In terms of tonality, there are a total of 15 words in the translation example that are both tonal and oblique, accounting for about one-sixth of the total number of words in the word.Despite this, the whole poem has a coherent meaning, reads smoothly, and is basically consistent with the meaning and charm of the original poem. However, if for the sake of complete rhyme, the "dan" in "shape only shadow single" is forcibly changed to any other rhymed character, it will appear to be awkward and stiff; and among the 15 characters that are different in level and oblique, if you want to forcefully change the characters in equal and oblique, , the meaning and context of the translated words will be lost, or the meaning of the words will be far away from the original text. For example: "Shao Guangqing is rich and fragrant" is changed to "Far thoughts are clear and fragrant", "stream" is changed to "water stream", "Misty and shallow shade" is changed to "Misty and shallow reflection", "winding" is changed to "tactful" , "Golden Crow Mist" is changed to "Light and Dark Golden Sun", "Hide one's face to the west" is changed to "Eternal Sadness Goes to the West", "Frequently Gu Think" is changed to "Gu Go Think", "Happy Sun is for a moment" is changed to " "Looking for a moment of joy", "Looking for the same profit and loss" was changed to "We should bear all the flaws" and so on. The changed pronunciation and rhythm cannot be heard in a Mandarin environment as much more beautiful sound effects, but in terms of meaning, it gives people the feeling of painting the ground as a anchor and using the text to harm the meaning.
Therefore, compared to the lyrics creation activity that strictly adheres to the rhythm of ancient words, I call this translation "Shakespeare's Sonnets (full translation of imitation words)". The reason why it is said to be an imitative translation method can be summed up as follows: on the basis of being faithful to the meaning and artistic conception of the original poem, borrowing different word plates, strictly limiting the number of words in the word plate, and trying to be as close to the phonology of the word plate as possible, so as to not only translate the original meaning of Shakespeare's poems, but also To express the beauty of traditional Chinese poetry. To be more specific, I abide by the following five principles in the translation process:
1. According to the density, scene description, lyricism and narrative of the original poem, different words are selected to combine them. This translation uses a total of 97 different word plates, among which the most commonly used word plates are "Shuilongyin", "Jiangchengzi", "Shuidiao Getou", "Qinyuanchun", "Wanghaichao"; due to the word count requirement, Remote word signs such as "Xia Yun Dieshang", "Ziyu Xiangman" and "Ge Nong" were selected. There is only one exception: the original poem 126 has only 12 lines, consisting of 6 pairs of double rhyme couplets. In this regard, the poem was not translated using word tags, but was translated into 12 lines of double-rhymed couplets with 10 words per line, keeping close to its form. Because this poem is the poet's farewell poem to a beautiful young man, it was named "Farewell Words" and translated. Generally speaking, the title of the word card has little connection with the meaning of the original poem, but I also try to harmonize the two as much as possible, so that readers can associate the artistic conception and suspense in the poem with the title of the word card. The more typical one is Chapter 7. No. 1 ("Treading on the Shasha"), No. 26 ("Xiang Girl's Resentment"), No. 65 ("Xiangcheng Legacy Song"), No. 100 ("Dong Xian Song"), No. 113 ("It's Hard to Leave") "), 140 poems ("Locked windows and leaky windows will forever cry Lonely Luan") and 149 poems ("Romance and resentment"), etc.
2. Strictly follow the word count requirements of the selected word card and match the meaning and artistic conception of the original poem. During the translation process, the number of words can be more or less based on the scenery, lyricism and narrative meaning of the original poem. Here, the Chinese word style shows its advantages: the words come at will, the length can be expanded and contracted freely, and it is not too burdensome. When describing scenes and expressing emotions, images are pushed or superimposed, and three-character or four-character structures and short sentences are mainly used, which are strong in meaning. Narration is a combination of long and short sentences. In order to faithfully express the narrative relationship and event process, correlative words are indispensable, so the number of words used is large. Generally speaking, if the original poem contains more descriptions of scenery and lyricism, the number of words in the translated poem can be fewer; while if the original poem contains a long narrative of gratitude and resentment, the number of words will be larger. For example, in No. 7, the poet is intoxicated by the changes in light, shadow, and scenery. It is not until the last couplet that he restrains his writing, urging his friend to get married and have children.So I chose a song "Treading on the Shasha" for translation. The 58 characters are enough to take into account the situation and respond to it. Among them, the three characters "Yang Huihuang" can accurately convey the words "Doth homage to his new-appearing sight, /" in the original poem. The artistic conception of Serving with looks his sacred majesty (the meaning of new-appearing is echoed by the previous line "The golden wheel is at the beginning"); Moreover, the main theme of this poem lies in the last couplet, so the translated poem does not hesitate to use four parts of the whole poem. One word count (14 words) constitutes two seven-character sentences and is translated emphatically; for another example, in the 29th and 30th poems of the original poem, the poet is meditating in a solitary lamp, feeling sad and sad. The use of 70 words "Jiangchengzi" is enough to convey its meaning. and poetic feeling, and echoes Su Shi's famous "Jiang Chengzi·Dreams on the 20th day of the first lunar month of Yi Mao"; in the 100th poem, the poet summons the muse to end his seclusion and revive the poem. It has a strong lyrical meaning and the poem God is like a "cave immortal" coming out of the mountain, so the 83-character song "Dong Immortal Song" perfectly matches its meaning and rhyme. There are also original poems, especially in the second part, the poet describes the entanglement with the "dark-skinned lady", Among them, the poet narrates the process of courtship, lovelorn, and begging, and writes in a verbose, weeping way. In this way, it must be faithfully conveyed in the translated poem. Therefore, the translated poem must use long-tune lyrics, some of which are more than 120 words, and the most It can reach 186 words, such as the 149 poem "Romance and Resentment".
3. Generally speaking, the fragments are divided into two-tone fragments to correspond to the inheritance and transformation of the content of the original poem. In general, the above fragments translate the first 8 sentences of the original poem (i.e. The first two four lines), and the last six lines of the second part (that is, the third four lines and the final double-rhymed couplet). This is a very coincidental fit: in most cases, Shakespeare's sonnets generally use the first two lines. Two four-line lines complete the beginning and continuation of the content of the poem. There is an obvious turning point in line 9, and finally it ends with a double-rhyme couplet. In contrast to Chinese word style, there is an alternation of scenes between the upper and lower parts. , the change of time and space, the change of density and shade. The two just echo each other in terms of literary meaning. As for the final concluding couplet in the original poem, the tone is followed in translation, and it is easy to generate corresponding wonderful words in the last sentence of the translated poem. Sentences. For example, "You are almost middle-aged, and you have no children, who will look after you" (No. 7 "Treading on the Shasha"), "Heaven and earth are immortal, and there are countless people in the world" (No. 18 "Water Dragon Yin"), "Go back, go back, my love is hard to abandon" (No. 66 "Water Dragon Yin"), "If my words are false, both people and poems will perish" (No. 116 "Water Melody Song Tou"). These are the things that come naturally. There are many sentences, so I won’t list them here. There is another situation where Shakespeare does not want to follow the rules, but disrupts the style of succession, transition, and synthesis. Either the escaping is early, or the transition is unclear, or it is not divided into four paragraphs but in one go. At this time, you can follow the original The meaning of the poem is translated using three word plates, such as the 6th poem "Xihe", the 124th poem "Yangguan Santie" and the 137th poem "Xuanjing Santai", etc.
4. About rhyme, level and oblique harmony For antithesis, we follow the principle of "the rhyme of words is broad and the rhyme of poetry is strict", and we use the 19-part rhyme of "Chinese New Rhyme" (modern pronunciation) and "Ci Lin Zhengyun" as the main basis, and strictly abide by the rhyme rules of the selected word cards. However, if there are a few places where the meaning of the original poem and the meaning of the translated words are not smooth because of rhyme, in order to maintain the charm and beauty of Chinese poetry, we would rather give up strict rhyme. For example, in No. 45 ("Parting Essence"), the whole word is pronounced with the twelve flat tones of "you" and "奥". Only the last word of the first part of the poem "To express love, I will come and leave you" and the word "liu" In the next film, the word "sorrow" in "Tell him to go quickly and go again, to get rid of sorrow and become even more sorrowful", although the same part, rhymes with plain rhyme. But except for these two words, it is difficult to express the poet's conflicting thoughts about the dilemma of whether to leave his friends or not, as expressed in the original poem "in tender embassy of love to thee" and the last line "I send them back again and straight grow sad". Another example is No. 132 ("Longtou Spring"). The whole word rhymes neatly, except for the last word "ugly" which doesn't fit the rhyme. But apart from this, what other word can accurately express "Then will I swear beauty herself is black, / And all they foul that thy complexion lack" ("And all they foul that thy complexion lack") ") What is the meaning of this conclusive double rhyme couplet? In addition, repeated rhymes can sometimes directly express meaning or symbolism. For example, the entire poem 138 is full of doubts and questioning about truth.Therefore, the translation was unconventional and original, and all 12 rhymes in the poem rhymed with the word "true" to highlight the main theme and concern of the poem. There is also No. 152. The whole poem is entangled with the authenticity of the oath. Words related to "oath" such as "swear", "oath", "perjured" and "forsworn" appear a total of 18 times. These words echo each other. Form a strong symbolic meaning. In order to express the characteristics of this language, the word "oath" is used as the rhyme in the translation, rhyming it to the end. The word "oath" appears 13 times in the whole translation, which effectively echoes the theme of the poem. Each sentence segment of Cipai's "Liuzhou Song Tou" requires rhyme, with a total of 32 rhymes. It is obviously impossible to rhyme all the words in the translation, so the rhyme can only be interrupted to partially meet the rhyme requirements. In terms of level and obliqueness, on the premise of being faithful to the meaning of the original poem, the word translation should abide by the rules of obliqueness and obliqueness of the word cards as much as possible, so that the number of oblique and oblique deviations in each word card does not exceed 40%. In this way, in the context of Mandarin, the translated words read as It can also be smooth and melodious. In addition, although the length of the words is arbitrary, there are also relatively free requirements for contrast. On the premise of being faithful to the meaning of the original poem, attention is also paid to forming contrasts as much as possible in the translation to increase the beauty of the translation.
5. In terms of selecting words to express meaning, the translated words should basically comply with the metrical conditions, try to choose commonly used words to express the meaning directly, avoid using uncommon words that are far from modern Chinese, and do not seek to make the translated words "classy and elegant". Conveying something offensive. Because the translation must convey the semantics and poetic meaning of the original poem, and the focus should be on the reader’s poetic feelings rather than deliberately highlighting the translator’s linguistic attainments. On the other hand, the meaning of Chinese poetry is relatively implicit. When encountering relatively straightforward words and phrases in the original poem, it must be expressed implicitly based on the moral meaning of the entire poem. For example, in No. 40, the poet immediately calls out: Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all, and his anger is beyond words. This poem is a transition from love to resentment in the narrative context of Shakespeare's sonnets. Here the poet accuses his friend of stealing his lover behind his back. The key verb here, "take", is a bit weak when translated as "take", and "grab" is too harsh. It is better to translate it implicitly with the flavor of Chinese poetry: "But why, I entered the garden to steal the flowers." "Entering the garden" and "stealing" are paired together, which means "entering the house without the owner's permission", while "stealing flowers" implicitly expresses "secretly having an affair with someone else's mistress". In this way, using plain rhyme is close to the overall rhyme of the words and expresses the meaning implicitly. Why not? Sometimes a word in the original poem is a pun, and the meaning is profound and should be translated as much as possible. Therefore, it is necessary to add words and translate them skillfully. For example, poem 138 ends like this: Therefore I lie with her, and she with me, where the word "lie" is a pun, which not only refers to the joy of bed, but also refers to lying to each other, so you can add a word and translate it as "In this way, I lie with her, and she with me. There is no truth in sharing the same bed and having different dreams." ". There is another situation. There are many puns about gender in the original poem, some of which are very explicit. These obscene words are one of the characteristics of Shakespeare's language, and they must be clearly conveyed in the translated words. Otherwise, they must be avoided, blocked or suppressed, which will cause the meaning of the translated words to be distorted, and the translated words will either be boring or tasteless. Or don't know what to say. In the vocabulary of Chinese poetry, there are many implicit expressions of male and female sexual matters. "Clouds and rain over Wushan", "Mandarin ducks in the dark", "Bumping Luan and falling phoenix" are all common "statements", and in certain contexts Here, words such as "spring grass is deep", "mist spring tide", "smooth cloud music", "spring scenery is interesting", "spring water loves the river", "excited meaning", "spring tide surges", etc. can all be in the readers' minds. Generate associations about the relationship between the sexes, thereby also expressing the sexual descriptions and sexual puns in Shakespeare's poems. As far as the translator is concerned, these words are used in a more subtle way, so why can't they be implicitly faithful to Shakespeare's "sexual taste" without being accused of being "indecent"? In Shakespeare's original poems, such sexual hints are everywhere, and some are particularly dense, such as Nos. 135, 136, 151, etc. In Nos. 135 and 129, the explicit sexual descriptions are even more unbridled, almost in every line. If they are avoided in translation, it will not be Shakespeare.
Shakespeare's sonnets are typical representatives of the classical beauty of Western poetry. They combine the architectural beauty and phonological beauty of poetic form, and express the highest realm of Western classical humanities: "For the sake of truth, goodness and beauty, poetry skills will not hesitate to write thousands of volumes" (see No. 105 of this translation) "Flying Dragon Feast"). Beautiful things should also be conveyed in beautiful forms and connotations. What literary translation strives to achieve is not only the "equivalence" of meanings but also the correspondence of form, but also the aesthetic experience, the presentation of alternative forms of beauty and the transmission of aesthetic synaesthesia. This imitation of Shakespeare's sonnets is an attempt to use the beautiful form and connotation of Chinese classical music to convey Shakespeare's ideals of truth, goodness, and beauty expressed in English and poetic meaning. I believe that although modern Chinese prose poetry is the mainstream of today's poetry world, as one of the main traditional literary genres in China, the word poem still has its delicate expressive power, rich and flexible form changes, and musical language. Its irreplaceable vitality. Readers and poetry lovers will definitely be able to appreciate Shakespeare's poetic heart and poetic flavor in this collection of translated Shakespeare's sonnets.
Finally, the translator loves Shakespeare all his life and has studied Shakespeare. However, he became a monk halfway in Chinese poetry. He translated Shakespeare's sonnets in order to imitate the words. In the past two years, he has devoted all his teaching and research, meditation, and achieved twice the result with half the effort. Now he has finally achieved it. , feel very gratified. Thanks to the encouragement and support of the leadership and editors of the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, the translator would like to express his deep gratitude to the editors for editing and publishing this book. I would also like to express my special thanks to my colleagues at the Institute of Advanced Studies, Durham University (IAS) and Professor Zheng Binghan from the Center for Modern Language and Culture at Durham University. Zheng Binghan), they provided me with as much convenience as possible when I was an International Senior Fellow at Durham University, and provided many valuable comments and suggestions for the translation of this book, so that it was finally published in Durham University. The university was able to successfully complete the manuscript. I would also like to thank the editor in charge of this book, Ms. Ren Jiao, and the book cover and binding designer Ms. Huang Hao. Their careful and meticulous work and creative art design have added poetic brilliance to this book.
At the same time, the translator also knew that his Shakespeare studies skills were still insufficient, and he was busy searching for lyrics, so mistakes were inevitable. Now, I would like to take this opportunity of publishing my translation to seek advice from the masters of Shakespeare studies, masters of translation studies and true poets. I also hope to receive criticisms and corrections from readers and poetry lovers. If this is the case, it will be a great pleasure in the translator’s life.
Preface to the book series
Translation examples Appreciation
Shakespeare's drama is good at describing stories and portraying human nature. It is a dramatic life with ups and downs and twists and turns;
Shakespeare's poetry records his true inner world. He was heartbroken by love, but he was also heartbroken by love. Friendship lasts forever.
He missed you and cherished your friends in the four seasons that circulated more than 400 years ago. He used the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter to express his longing for his friends and express his philosophy on life.
(Excerpted from the official account of "Foreign Language Education Press")
Below, let's appreciate Shakespeare's sonnets about the four seasons and feel how he used the images of the four seasons to convey his insights and philosophies; at the same time, we will also appreciate Read how Professor Huang Bikang accurately and exquisitely translated the depth and beauty of Shakespeare's sonnets in the form of traditional Chinese poetry.
(English is the original text of Shakespeare's sonnets, Chinese is the translation by Professor Huang Bikang)
Spring
The sadness of separation comes with spring, the sky is beautiful in April, and the flowers are in full bloom.
Looking at the sea tide
The sorrow of separation comes in spring, April is a genius,
Thousands of purples and reds are blooming.
The winter god is smiling and dancing,
having endless fun with spring.
is full of spring scenery.
Xi Wuxin enjoys the spring, with the birds singing and the flowers blooming.
No words of joy. Talking and laughing among the flowers.
The beautiful scenery turns a blind eye,
The lily is innocent, neither surprised nor admired.
The roses are rich in color, with varying shades of vermilion.
The poetic reputation has not been matched.
The shape of a flower's beautiful heart is taken from the beauty of your heart, which is the source of all beauty.
You are not here,
April is cold, and you are in love with the flowers.
Summer
May is full of beauty, the wind blows by, and the fallen flowers rustle one after another.
Autumn
Cold branches and cold sky, broken pavilions and broken pavilions are the place where birds sang in the past.
Yong Yu Le
Have you ever seen that my temples are getting frosty, and the autumn leaves are dimming.
The cold branches and the cold sky, the broken pavilion and the broken platform, are the place where birds sang in the past.
Have you ever seen that the sun is setting in the west, and the sky is hidden behind the dark curtain.
is left alone, walking in the long night and on the long road to heaven.
In the past, I was young and strong, and the sun was scorching like fire. How can you bear to ignore me now?
In the dying years, sparks are flickering, to whom should I complain?
The branches and leaves are burned out, the ashes have gathered in the furnace, and the remaining life is nothingness.
Seeing this scene, I say goodbye to you, do you love me more?
In winter
the birds sing sparsely, the grasses wither and turn yellow, and the cold winter is coming.
Source of this article: Research on Foreign Literature and Art (please click to read the original text to view)
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