The Relief Sculpture of Yu Guangzhong (余光中的『浮雕』)

It is always interesting to know what one poet thinks of his own literary heroes or potential competitors. I suppose their feelings to other poets must be very complex. On the one hand, he may wish to claim a degree of affinity with those whom he regards as the masters and from whom he has learned something or other. On the other hand, no two poets ideas about what poetry is all about can be exactly the same. And even though they may share lots of common ideas about style or contents, they must somehow distinguish themselves from what they regard as their masters. He must think that he can do certain things better than his master or at least something different. Otherwise, he may suffer from an agonizing crisis of identity. He must ask himself at some point of other of his career, "What am I? Who am I?  How am I unique amongst other poets?" . He may have endless sleepless nights thinking about such questions. He must. Such questions must touch him most intimately. hey may very well amount to questions of his survival as a poet!

What does Yu Guangzhong think about some European poets. I try to find out. The answer may lie in one of his poems "Relief Sculpture" Here it is with my translation.

 

Alexander Pope                                                          Alexander Pope

 

十八世詩壇的蒙面俠 ，為繆斯護駕   The eighteenth Century masked hero guarding the Muse

以英雄式雙刃的匕首一把。                 With a heroic double-blade dagger  .

 

P. B Shelley                                                                     P B Shelley

 

伊甸園的鎖鏽了，你的金鑰匙不能開啟。 The lock to Eden is rusted, your golden key tunred powerless .

廣島上空有使你落淚的蕈狀雲；                  A tear jerking mushroom cloud above Nagasaki;

解放了的普羅米修又關進集中營了；The freed Prometheus already locked inside a concentration camp;.

匈牙利的草原上，為何雲雀的歌聲停了？Why the skylarks stop singing above the Hungarian steppes?.

 

Edgar Allan Poe                                                         Edgar Allan Poe

誤生於新大陸的歐洲人                                   A European born by mistake on the new continent

當惠特曼在一張草葉上讀到上帝的名字，When Whitman saw God's name upon a Blade of Grass

你卻在鴉瞳中窺見地獄的影子。                You saw Hell's shadow in the eyes of The Raven

 

我想邀你去同希考克的謀殺片                    I want to invite you to a Hitchkok murder movie

我的信應該送給希臘的私奔皇后，Ought my letter be directed to the Eloping Greek Queen

還是普魯陀黑色的冥城？                  or to Pluto's dark city of the dead ?

 

Emily Dickinson                                               Emily Dickinson

 

上帝膝上一個頑皮的女兒                 A naughty girl on God's knees 

玩流星的彈子於你小小的掌心。  Toying with meteorite pellets inside your small palms. 

你在園中開一個化裝舞會，          You gave a masked ball in the garden

邀來善變的四季，美眸的晨與昏。Inviting whimsical seasons, the dawns and dusks of pretty eyes

 

Oscar Wilde                                                                   Oscar Wilde

 

最美的花仍需植根於污泥。                         Even the most beautiful flowers are rooted in mud

而你，一朵蒼白的水仙花，投無根的影     And you, a pale daffodil, cast a rootless shadow

於里丁獄悔罪的淚裏。                                 over the tears of remorse at Reading Gaol  

 

Rudyard Kipling                                                         Rudyard Kipling

 

大英帝國的不落日終於落了。The sun finally sets upon the empire whose sun never sets

落入甘地餓空的肚裏。             Falling into Gandhi's stomache empty with hunger

昨日的光榮是明日的尼尼微的廢墟。The glory of yore is the ruin of Neneveh's tomorrow

重遊印度時，寫一首詠史詩吧，    When you revisit India, write an epic poem

當你繞過好望角，遙念蘇彝士。When you skirt round the Cape of Good Hope, recall the Suez from afar.