Wednesday 12 February 2014

长干行 The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter ( Dollars Ho )

Since I have studied a poetry " The River-Merchant's Wife: A letter" recently in my Literature lesson. That is the translated piece of 《長干行》李白. I checked out for the chinese version on Internet immediately and I found it's so interesting! Hope you enjoy it! ;) 



长干行
李白                               
妾发初覆额,折花门前剧;
郎骑竹马来,绕床弄青梅。
同居长干里,两小无嫌猜。
十四为君妇,羞颜未尝开。
低头向暗壁,千唤不一回。
十五始展眉,愿同尘与灰。
常存抱柱信,岂上望夫台。
十六君远行,瞿塘滟滪堆。
五月不可触,猿声天上哀。
门前迟行迹,一一生绿苔。
苔深不能扫,落叶秋风早。
八月蝴蝶黄,双飞西园草。
感此伤妾心,坐愁红颜老!
早晚下三巴,预将书报家。 
相迎不道远,直至长风沙。 

The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter

While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of Chokan;
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.

At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.

At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever and forever.
Why should I climb the look out?

At sixteen you departed
You went into far Ku-to-yen, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.

You dragged your feet when you went out.
By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me, I grow older.
If you are coming down throught the narrows of the river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you
As far as Cho-fu-Sa



Actually, I couldn't fully understand the piece of "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" without Chinese original version, especially for some particular wording. For example: 长干里 village of Chokan, 下三巴narrows of the river Kiang, 长风沙Cho-fu-Sa, etc... Although I love English, I still prefer the original version. However, I enjoy making comparison to these two versions.



2 comments:

  1. 我很喜歡閱讀中國文學,我認為中國的詩詞特別富韻味。因為用字的講究,古代的文人用簡短的字句就能營造美麗的意境和深遠的意義,加上古人對音韻的研究,在遣詞用字方面都會顧及平仄和押韻,而這些方面我認為都是譯文很難做到的,所以我依然較喜歡原文的版本。

    By Kourtney

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  2. from the beginner perspective, the first half of translation looks like a poem,in terms of alliteration and rhymes, but the rest of it ... ..."You dragged your feet when you went out.
    By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
    Too deep to clear them away!
    The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
    The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
    Over the grass in the West garden;
    They hurt me, I grow older.
    If you are coming down throught the narrows of the river Kiang,
    Please let me know beforehand,
    And I will come out to meet you
    As far as Cho-fu-Sa" lol .Anyway Thanks for sharing - Kenny Lau

    ReplyDelete