One main difference I noticed throughout all of the translations, is that in the beginning of each one the translator mentions hair being across a forehead except in the translation by W.J.B. Fletcher. In this person’s translation, the first line states, “When first o’er maiden brows my hair I tied”. This is the only translation of the poem that doesn’t mention the character’s hair being covered over their forehead.
The same translator, W.J.B. Fletcher, states in the third line, “You riding came on hobbyhorse astride,”. All of the other translated poems mention this certain person coming in riding on a bamboo horse.
Amy Lowell and Wai-Lim Yip’s translations of the poem are the only ones who translate the ending as this person meeting someone even as far as “Long Wind Sand”, while the other translations mention other places. For instance, Witter Bynner states that the person would travel “All the way to Chang-feng Sha.”.
My favorite version of this poem is Ch’ang-an Memories translated by Wai-Lim Yip. I believe this is my favorite version because I feel it is the most simple translation. The other poems were a little more confusing than this one but I like how this translation explained the feelings this woman had for her husband. It also explained how far she would go to see him after he had left her.
1 response so far ↓
m.gorman1 // Apr 1st 2015 at 5:42 pm
To continue your thoughts about the line discussing the horse, in the first poem the author talked about someone coming in on bamboo stilts and playing horse. Yet all of the author authors talked about riding a horse. Its very interesting how different these translations are in english. Playing horse and riding a horse are drastically different.