Combines rhyme and literalness with
wonderful
dexterity.
Waley - 170 Chinese Poems
Translating
literally, without thinking about the metre of the version, one finds
that about two lines out of three have a very definite swing similar to
that of the Chinese lines. The remaining lines are just too short or too
long, a circumstance very irritating to the reader, whose ear expects
the rhythm to continue. I have therefore tried to produce regular
rhythmic effects similar to those of the original. Each character in the
Chinese is represented by a stress in the English; but between the
stresses unstressed syllables are of course interposed. In a few
instances where the English insisted on being shorter than the Chinese,
I have preferred to vary the metre of my version, rather than pad out
the line with unnecessary verbiage.
I have not used rhyme because it is impossible to produce in English
rhyme-effects at all similar to those of the original, where the same
rhyme sometimes runs through a whole poem. Also, because the
restrictions of rhyme necessarily injure either the vigour of one's
language or the literalness of one's version. I do not, at any rate,
know of any example to the contrary. What is generally known as "blank
verse" is the worst medium for translating Chinese poetry, because the
essence of blank verse is that it varies the position of its pauses,
whereas in Chinese the stop always comes at the end of the couplet.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1. H. A. Giles, "Chinese Poetry in English Verse. " 1896. 212 pp.
Combines rhyme and literalness with wonderful dexterity.
2. Hervey St. Denys, "Poesies des Thang. " 1862. 301 pp. The choice of
poems would have been very different if the author had selected from the
whole range of T'ang poetry, instead of contenting himself, except in
the case of Li Po and Tu Fu, with making extracts from two late
anthologies. This book, the work of a great scholar, is reliable--except
in its information about Chinese prosody.
3. Judith Gautier, "Le Livre de Jade. " 1867 and 1908. It has been
difficult to compare these renderings with the original, for proper
names are throughout distorted or interchanged. For example, part of a
poem by Po Chu-i _about_ Yang T'ai-ch? n is here given as a complete poem
and ascribed to "Yan-Ta-Tchen" as author. The poet Han Yu figures as
Heu-Yu; T'ao Han as Sao Nan, etc. Such mistakes are evidently due to
faulty decipherment of someone else's writing.
literally, without thinking about the metre of the version, one finds
that about two lines out of three have a very definite swing similar to
that of the Chinese lines. The remaining lines are just too short or too
long, a circumstance very irritating to the reader, whose ear expects
the rhythm to continue. I have therefore tried to produce regular
rhythmic effects similar to those of the original. Each character in the
Chinese is represented by a stress in the English; but between the
stresses unstressed syllables are of course interposed. In a few
instances where the English insisted on being shorter than the Chinese,
I have preferred to vary the metre of my version, rather than pad out
the line with unnecessary verbiage.
I have not used rhyme because it is impossible to produce in English
rhyme-effects at all similar to those of the original, where the same
rhyme sometimes runs through a whole poem. Also, because the
restrictions of rhyme necessarily injure either the vigour of one's
language or the literalness of one's version. I do not, at any rate,
know of any example to the contrary. What is generally known as "blank
verse" is the worst medium for translating Chinese poetry, because the
essence of blank verse is that it varies the position of its pauses,
whereas in Chinese the stop always comes at the end of the couplet.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1. H. A. Giles, "Chinese Poetry in English Verse. " 1896. 212 pp.
Combines rhyme and literalness with wonderful dexterity.
2. Hervey St. Denys, "Poesies des Thang. " 1862. 301 pp. The choice of
poems would have been very different if the author had selected from the
whole range of T'ang poetry, instead of contenting himself, except in
the case of Li Po and Tu Fu, with making extracts from two late
anthologies. This book, the work of a great scholar, is reliable--except
in its information about Chinese prosody.
3. Judith Gautier, "Le Livre de Jade. " 1867 and 1908. It has been
difficult to compare these renderings with the original, for proper
names are throughout distorted or interchanged. For example, part of a
poem by Po Chu-i _about_ Yang T'ai-ch? n is here given as a complete poem
and ascribed to "Yan-Ta-Tchen" as author. The poet Han Yu figures as
Heu-Yu; T'ao Han as Sao Nan, etc. Such mistakes are evidently due to
faulty decipherment of someone else's writing.
