第十五讲：融入中国文化的英语诗歌

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第十五讲融入中国文化的英美诗歌

庞德（Ezra Pound, 1885~1972）的《河商妻：一封信》（The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter）译自李白的《长干行》，很多西方读者就是通过这首诗了解到中国古诗的魅力的，此诗常被当成一首庞德的创作，其中从“十四为君妇”到“猿声天上哀”的译文如下：

At fifteen I stopped scow ling,

I desired my dust to be mingled w ith yours

Forever and forever and forever.

Why should I c limb the look out?

At sixteen you departed,

You w ent into far Ku-tou-yan, by the river of sw irling eddies,

And you have been gone five months.

The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead. 1

庞德当时并不懂汉语，某些地方的翻译并不到位，如典故“常存抱柱信”就没有译出，只是意译出了部分意思。“五月不可触”原意指五月份的季节里，看见一切都充满生机，而自己独守空房，了无生趣，十分伤心，译文you have been gone five months（你已离开五个月）是错误理解的结果。

庞德还翻译了汉武帝的《落叶哀蝉曲》，名之为Liu Ch'e：

The rustling of the silk is discontinued,

Dust drifts over the court-yard,

There is no sound of foot-fall, and the leaves

Scurry into heaps and lie still,

And she the rejoic er of the heart is beneath them:

A wet leaf that c lings to the threshold. 2

此诗被称为美国象征派诗史上的杰作。特别落叶一句，被称意象叠加法的典范，落叶句成了美国诗史上一个很有名典故。庞德的这种翻译法，也被翻译界称为创造性翻译。

1938年，英国诗人奥登（1907~1973）同小说家衣修武德(Isherwood, 1904~1986)来到武汉，并去前线采访，他们一个用诗，一个用散文写下了他们在中国的见闻，合作而成《战地行》一书，于1939年出版。奥登的《中国十四行组诗》抒发了他对中国的关注，其中一首如下：

1李白的《长干行》对应诗行：十四为君妇，羞颜未尚开。十五始展眉，愿同尘与灰。常存抱柱信，且上望夫台。十六君远行，瞿塘滟淤堆。五月不可触，猿声天上哀。

2汉武帝的《落叶哀蝉曲》如下：罗袂兮无声，玉墀兮尘生。虚房冷而寂寞，落叶依于重扃。望彼美之女兮，安得感余心之未宁？庞德的《刘彻》译文如下：绸裙的窸瑟再不复闻，/ 灰尘飘落在宫院里，/ 听不到脚步声，/ 乱叶飞旋着，/ 静静地堆积，/ 她，我心中的欢乐，睡在下面。/ 一片潮湿的树叶粘在门槛上。

Far from a cultural c entre he w as used:

Abandoned by his general and his lic e,

Under a padded quilt he turned to ic e

And vanished. He w ill never be perused

When this c ampaign is tidied into books:

No vital know ledge perished in that skull;

His jokes were stale; like w artime, he was du ll;

His name is lost for ever like his looks.

Though runeless, to instructions from headquarters

He added meaning like a comma when

He joined the dust of China, that our daughters

Might keep their upright carriage, not again

Be shamed before the dogs, that, where are w aters,

Mountains and houses, may be also men. 3

(W.H. Auden: Sonnets from China, XII)

这首诗表现了一个英国诗人对普通中国士兵的深切同情，而且他还能充分理解，中国的士兵化为尘，是为了我们的女儿不再为狗所凌辱，能够有一个充满人间烟火的江山田园。

女诗人凯莎（Carolyn Kizer, 1925~ ）在诗歌《我这辈子曾经去过的地方》（Where I’ve Been All My Life, 1984）的第三节，采取主观介入的态度，描写了叙述者在1949年以前，坐火车经过中国的土地，亲眼看见中国的苦难：

The train w ill glide through fields of ric e and men,

Bodies like tongs, and glorious genitals,

Not alien as Chinese, but Adam-strange.

Rejoic ed by her first look at naked men,

Her soul sw ims out the w indow of the train!

She goes where newborn daughters c log the creeks;

Bank-portic os are strewn w ith starving rags.

Here the old dragon, China, thrashes, dying.

But the anc ient, virile music of the rac e

3他被使用在远离文化中心的地方，/ 又被他的将军和他的虱子所遗弃，/ 于是在一件棉袄里他闭上眼睛/而离开人世。人家不会把他提起。// 当这场战役被整理成书的时候，/ 没有重要的知识在他的头壳里丧失。/ 他的玩笑是陈腐的，他沉闷如战时，/ 他的名字和模样都将永远消逝。// 他不知善，不择善，却教育了我们，/ 并且像逗点一样加添上意义；/ 他在中国变为尘土，以便在他日/ 我们的女儿得以热爱这人间，/不再为狗所凌辱；也为了使有山、/ 有水、有房屋的地方，也能有人烟。（查良铮译）