The Tiger is a poem by one of my favourite poems by one of my favourite poets. It's a poem by William Blake. Apparently Xu Zhimo also liked this poem. Here is the original:
Tiger, tiger, burning bright 猛虎，猛虎 ，燒亮了
In the forests of the night, 夜森林
What immortal hand or eye 何等不滅的手或眼
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 可鑲造你的驚人對稱？
In what distant deeps or skies 在哪遙遠的深淵或天空
Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 燃燒著你眼中之火？
On what wings dare he aspire? 他憑何膽敢展翼？
What hand dare seize the fire? 可有手敢拏那火？
And what shoulder and what art 有何肩膊及技藝
Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 能扭曲你的心腱？
And when thy heart began to beat, 當你的心開始跳動時
What dread hand and what dread feet?多可怖的手和多可怖的腳？
What the hammer? what the chain? 什麽槌？什麽鍊？
In what furnace was thy brain? 你腦袋在哪溶爐？
What the anvil? What dread grasp 什麽砧座？它致命的恐怖
Dare its deadly terrors clasp? 膽敢手抓何等恐懼在它掌中？
When the stars threw down their spears,當星星擲下其矛
And water'd heaven with their tears, 淚洒天空時
Did He smile His work to see? 他是否在淺笑他的傑作？
Did He who made the lamb make thee?造小羊的是否也造你？
Tiger, tiger, burning bright 猛虎，猛虎 ，燒亮了
In the forests of the night, 夜森林
What immortal hand or eye 是何不滅的手或眼
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 可鑲造你的驚人對稱？
The following is Xu's very free "translation" of it.
猛虎
猛虎，猛虎，火燄似的燒紅
在深夜的莽叢，
何等神明的巨眼或是手
能擘盡你的駭人的雄厚?
在何等遙遠的海底還是天頂
燒着你眼火的純晶？
跨什麽翅膀他膽敢飛騰？
憑什麼手敢擒住那威捘？
是何等肩腕，是何等神通，
能雕鏤你的臟腑的系统？
等到你的心開始了活跳，
何等震驚的手，何等震驚的腳！
椎的是什麽鎚？使的是什麽鍊？
在什麽洪爐裏熬煉你的腦液？
什麽砧座，什麽駭異的拏把，
膽敢它的凶惡的驚怕擒抓？
當群星放射它們的金芒，
滿天上泛濫着他們的淚光，
見到他的工程他露不露笑容？
造你的不就是那造小羊的神工？
猛虎，猛虎，火燄似的燒紅
在深夜的莽叢，
何等神明的巨眼或是手
膽敢擘畫你的驚人的玆厚?
The simplest comparison between the literal and the beefed up version is a good measure of how Xu rewrote instead of translated what William Blake had intended to say. The difference between translation and re-writing cannot have been more stark!
徐志摩的愛情更勝過他的詩.
回覆刪除[版主回覆12/16/2010 13:34:00]You may be right. I know very little of his amorous adventures save that he divorced his first wife from an arranged marriage and married another and died to take up an appointment so that it might be easier for him to meet his second love. My guesses are based entirely a brief biography on his complete works and on the internal evidence from the poems he wrote.
我不懂 William Blake 威廉.佈雷克.
回覆刪除[版主回覆12/16/2010 13:11:00]I know very little of him either. I have read his Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience which I like enormously. The Tiger is part of the latter collection.
今日好凍 呀.. elzorro 自己保重 呢
回覆刪除[版主回覆12/16/2010 17:38:00]Yes very cold indeed. Don't worry about el zorro. He is a survivor! In 8 years, he only needed 5 days of sick leave in total. On the contrary, I'm more worried about your own health, especially your allergies. Be sure to wear warm clothes and protect your nose. A scarf will often work wonders!
gOOD MORNING, MY DEAR OLD FRIEND! "He should live on like a tiger... Should be here now , loving her and kissing her, but Live dreams vanish with the birth of his death, On and on, where did he go from now? Like a ghost, like thin air in love with her... A love in despair... Tiger roars , but couldn't scare death, and he doesn't cheat death..."
回覆刪除[版主回覆12/18/2010 01:31:00]In this poem, Blake thinks that God is not just all good. There may also be beauty in what the normal person regard as "cruelty". Perhaps he thinks that violence and aggression are inseparable parts of the human psyche in the same manner that man is capable of love and tender care.