Translating Classical Chinese Poetry and Prose

1. Translating Classical Chinese Poetry and Prose David Deterding National Institute of Education

2. Focus on: • Du Fu • Lao-zi's Dao-de-jing

3. Loss in Translation • Translation inevitably involves loss. • For poetry, full explanatory notes help offer a full appreciation of the original. • Maybe also for prose: translation of the Dao-de-jing benefits from substantial background notes.

4. The Poems of Du Fu

5. Areas of Loss • rhyme • metre • parallelism • compact style • ambiguity • imagery (symbolism) • allusions

6. Rhyme • The syllable at the end of each couplet rhymes. • Rhyme is rarely retained in the translation.

7. Rhyme: Poem 1 • Line 2 : 了 • Line 4 : 曉 • Line 6 : 鳥 • Line 8 : 小

8. Metre • These poems all have 8 lines • 5 (or 7) characters per line • Each line is broken into two parts: 2 + 3 (or 2 + 2 + 3) • The translation has no fixed metre.

9. Parallelsm • The second and third couplets have a parallel structure. • Each character has a related (or antithetical) matching character. • There is no parallelism in the translation.

10. Parallelism: Poem 1 造 化 鐘 神 秀 陰 陽 割 昏 曉

11. Parallelism: Poem 1 盪 胸 生 層 雲 決 眥 入 歸 鳥

12. Compact Style • Poem 1 has 40 characters • The translation has 90 words. • Compact text can suggest multiple meanings.

13. Ambiguity 盪 胸 生 層 雲 "The layered clouds begin at the climber’s heaving chest" Problem: look at last line; the writer appears not to be climbing the mountain.

14. Alternative Translation 盪 胸 生 層 雲 "Layered clouds appear from a bulge in the side of the mountain."

15. Which is Correct? • Maybe the poem carries both meanings. • The compactness of poetry is open to multiple interpretations. • It is hard to retain these in a translation.

16. Translation as Poetry? • It would be possible to translate it as poetry. • This could also suggest multiple interpretations. • However, inevitably the interpretations suggested would be different from the original.

17. Imagery (Symbolism) • All words carry lots of symbolism. • What is the symbolism behind 'rose'? • This symbolism differs between languages. • What is the symbolism behind • 'bat'? • 'red'? • This symbolism is generally lost in translation.

18. Imagery in Poem 1 • 青"greenness" • 齊 魯"Ch'i and Lu" • 陰 陽"northern and southern slopes"

19. Allusion • There is (probably) no allusion to external stories or events in Poem 1. • We need to look at other poems to see allusion

20. Let us consider these issues once more, referring to the other poems.

21. Rhyme • Sometimes the rhyme is no longer perfect because of sound changes in Chinese.

22. Poem 6 • 深 shen • 心 xin • 金 jin • 簪 zan

23. Detour • Rhyme can sometimes carry meaning. • Consider the following poem written by someone leaving a company after a few years working there.

24. So, farewell my friends, Everything good one day ends. I've been here five years, And together, we've shed many tears. But a few things I won't miss, Such as coffee tasting like it was brewed some time ago, Some theories I never quite mastered, And a boss who's a real nice guy.

25. Meaning from Rhyme in Du Fu? • It seems unlikely that there is any added meaning from rhyme like this in Du Fu's poems. • However, the potential for indicating meaning through rhyme exists.

26. Metre • As with all good poets, Du Fu sometimes breaks the fixed metre. • This creates a fresh effect.

27. Poem 11 露 從 今 夜 白 月 是 故 鄉 明

28. Parallelism : Poem 29 五 更 鼓 角 聲 悲 壯 三 峽 星 河 影 動 搖 (Su Tung-p'o thought this the best seven-syllable couplet in the language.)

29. Detour • Does parallelism extend into modern prose?

30. 至于我们到世上做人，是为了喜悦而来，不是为了烦恼受苦来的，所以自己要为自我创造欢喜。若是完全靠别人给我们欢喜、给我们快乐，这是不够的，所谓心中有佛，心中会快乐，生活有禅，生活就欢喜。 (from 禅 师 与 兰 花by 摩迦, 早 报 副 刊 1997年11月22日)

31. 至于我们到世上做人，是为了喜悦而来，不是为了烦恼受苦来的，所以自己要为自我创造欢喜。若是完全靠别人给我们欢喜、给我们快乐，这是不够的，所谓心中有佛，心中会快乐，生活有禅，生活就欢喜。 (from 禅 师 与 兰 花by 摩迦, 早 报 副 刊 1997年11月22日)

32. 心中有佛，心中会快乐， 生活有禅，生活就欢喜

33. questions • Is such parallelism more common in writing by people from Taiwan? • Should we try to maintain any parallelism in translation?

34. Ambiguity : Poem 6 感 時 花 濺 淚 恨 別 鳥 驚 心 The flowers shed tears of grief for the troubled times, and the birds seem startled, as if with the anguish of separation.

35. Null Subjects • Chinese is a null-subject language. • Maybe the first line has a null first-person subject. (Can flowers shed tears?) • Maybe the flowers are an adverb of place. • If this is right, then the next line should have a similar structure.

36. Alternative translation 感 時 花 濺 淚 恨 別 鳥 驚 心 Troubled by the times, I shed tears on the flowers, and hating separation, I am startled by the birds.

37. Symbolism : Poem 11 一 雁 聲 symbolises an exile's letter home

38. Symbolism : Poem 21 北 極 朝 廷 終 不 改 "The Court of the Northern Star remains unchanged."

41. Northern Star 

42. Symbolism : Poem 21 北 極 朝 廷 終 不 改 "The Court of the Northern Star remains unchanged." The Northern Star symbolises the Emperor, because everything revolves around him.

43. Symbolism : Poem 16 柏"cypresses" 黃 鸝"yellow oriole" 錦"brocade" what symbolism do these words carry?

44. Allusion : Poem 16 三 顧 頻 煩 天 下 計 "The importunate humility of those three visits resulted in the grand strategy which shaped the world for a generation."

45. Allusion : Poem 21 日 暮 聊 為 梁 父 吟 "As evening falls I shall sing a song of Liang-fu."

46. Allusion : Poem 29 臥 龍 躍 馬 終 黃 土 "Sleeping Dragon and Horse Leaper ended in the yellow dust. "

47. Symbolism / Allusion • Sometimes the distinction between symbolism and allusion is fuzzy. • However, both cause problems for translation. • Maybe detailed notes are the answer; however, detailed notes are an admission of failure.

48. The Dao-de-jing

49. Parallelism • Is the Dao-de-jing verse or prose? • Maybe there was no clear distinction in Classical Chinese.

50. Parellism : Verse 1 道 可 道 非 常 道 名 可 名 非 常 名