Wednesday, August 24, 2011

不信東風喚不回 / Regaining the Spring's Breeze


送春
[宋] 王令
                        A Farewell to Spring
                        Wang Ling (AD 1032–1059)


三月殘花落更開,
小簷日日燕飛來;
子規夜半猶啼血,
不信東風喚不回。

Spring’s last month sees flowers fading,
                                    they fall, again they bloom;
And little eaves find Swallows arriving
                                    daily back to their room.
Into the midnight the Cuckoo wails,
                                    weeping till she bleeds,
Convinced her crying never fails
                                    to regain the Spring’s breeze.


(Translated by Allen Zhuang)

2 回應/Feedback:

Chris said...

為了和bloom押韻,鳥巢要譯成room,有點特別,也沒法了。
杜鵑啼血譯為weeping,不過下一句就用her crying,或可順理成章說her blood算了。

Allen said...

謝謝梁生指教;留言所示甚是。為格律詩作英譯,常有“沒法”之憾。此篇是奉命之作,勉力為之,自知難得妥貼。先生建議“blood”一字,確是義足辭完,翻譯中亦曾考慮過;但為照顧此行輕重相間四個foot,且要表出“喚”字,躊躇再三,只好仍用 “crying”(雙音節),也是沒法。
以譯詩而論(做詩亦然),中文好在精簡,英文卻苦於冗長。英譯七言詩句,若要不減文義,常須用到七個foot,長句不便一排到底,通常還須切作一行半,安排為前四步後三步,又是一難。
譯詩的過失,或義存辭亡,或因辭害義,譯者時常躲避不及。不過,難處令人深思,思而有得,卻也是樂趣。
本網頁罕有留言(學生問答除外),但時承先生關注而得益,再多謝了。