The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter

by Ezra Pound

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 through 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.

        By Rihaku

（"The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" is based on the first of Li Po's "Two Letters from Chang-Kan." http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15425）

 

翻译赏析：

就本人阅读所及范围，西方诗人中惟一将中国古典诗词翻译得如此传神的是庞德。

赏析庞德翻译作品的目的，一是从中学习庞德翻译的技巧，二是窥探庞德是如何从中国古典诗词中吸取养分，从而创立了他的意象主义。

我在另一篇博文中对第二点有更详细的阐述（“诗人中的诗人与诗仙”链接：

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_86235a600101cwbh.html

 庞德在翻译李白“长干行”一诗中值得学习借鉴的地方：

1．中国古典诗词题目的翻译：根据翻译目标语言读者的阅读习惯，提纲挈领地进行翻译处理。原诗题目是长干行。长干行是乐府旧题《杂曲歌辞》调名，原为长江下游一带民歌，其源出于《清商西曲》，内容多写船家妇女的生活。庞德将其翻译成The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter （回译：船家妻子的一封信）。

2. 韵律与节奏。长干行的形式为五言古乐府，押韵，且有换韵。庞德的翻译不求押韵，但节奏感强。我读庞德其他诗歌后的感觉是，庞德在其作品中，意象为第一追求，次而节奏，不求押韵。

3. 解释性翻译。如：You went into far Ku-to-yen, by the river of swirling eddies 是对应“瞿塘滟预堆”的翻译。

4.简化原诗。如： “They hurt me.  I grow older” 是对应“感此伤妾心，坐愁红颜老”的翻译。译文简洁，两个句子间的停顿，给读者留下自行想象推理的空间。又如：Forever and forever and forever是对应“常存抱柱信”的翻译，用词简单，但却强烈的体现了原句所表达的船夫妻的坚贞。

5.诗行中巧用逗号，形式上使节奏更鲜明，内容上使各意象凸出。如：对应原诗“折花门前剧。 

郎骑竹马来，绕床弄青梅。”

庞德是这样处理的：

“ 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.”

6. 句子、词组的巧妙安排。如，对应“同居长干里，两小无嫌猜”， 庞德是这样翻译的：

And we went on living in the village of Chokan:

Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.

这个句子的通常阅读词序是：

And we，two small people, without dislike or suspicion,

went on living in the village of Chokan.

将解释性的并列主语和一个短语放到另一行，使行文即达意又冼练。

 

附：李白原诗

 

长干行

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，瞿塘滟预堆。 

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。