Thursday 31 July 2014

辛棄疾 少年不識愁滋味 愛上層樓 In my youth I knew not what were grief and woe

醜奴兒/采桑子書博山道中壁
   南宋辛棄疾

    少年不識愁滋
         

         
;
         
赋新詞強說

         而今識盡愁滋
         
說還
         
說還 ;
         
卻道天凉好個


TUNE: Chou Nu Er “Ugly Boy-Servant”/
             Cai Sang Zi “Picking Mulberries”
TITLE: "Written on a Wall on the Way to Boshan"
-- by Xin Qiji (1140-1207)
-- Translated by Frank C Yue

In my youth I knew not what were grief and woe --
Up the storeys I loved to go.
Up the storeys  I loved to go,
For my new songs I just feigned my grief and woe!

Of grief and woe I’ve tasted the flavours today –
I'd like to talk but just wouldn’t say;
I’d like to talk but just wouldn’t say,
O! What a chilly Autumn, what a fine day!

and a fine rendition by -- 夜月星河'Night Moon Starry River':

While young I failed to know the taste of woe.
I climbed upstairs with gusto;
I climbed upstairs with gusto.
I used to write new songs with fake sorrow.

Now I know the taste of grief as I grow.
Try to speak but I stall though;
Try to speak but I stall though.

" A cool fall day!"  I finally say so.

The following explanatory information is culled from the net:

… < 譯文:
少年時不懂的什麼是憂愁,
閒來無事喜歡登上高樓。
喜歡登上高樓,
為了寫首新詞沒有憂愁也要說有許多憂愁。
如今嘗盡了愁的滋味,
想說卻又說不出口。
想說卻又說不出口,
而只是說:「好涼爽的一個秋天啊!」


欣賞:
這闋詞精彩的描寫出隨著年齡的成長,心態的轉變。無憂無慮的少年有些無聊、強裝的閒愁,卻好像很嚴重一樣。到真正體會到人生的苦澀艱辛,許多的愁怨連說都說不出口,只能獨自承受。>

… < 詞的故事
有句話說:「如人飲水,冷暖自知。」水是涼的或熱的,只有喝水的人最清楚了;同樣的,辛棄疾這首詞也是如此,愁的滋味到底有多苦呢?只有親身體驗的人,才能夠了解。到那個時候,即使想說愁,愁反而不是言語所能夠形容了。這種心情,你不必急著知道,有一天自然會明白的。

這首詞的作者辛棄疾,是位愛國詞人。當他出生的那年,正是岳飛領軍向北反攻,北宋人民群起響應,金人節節敗退的年代。然而,過了兩年,岳飛被害死了,只求偏安江南的南宋政府,居然屈辱的和金人談和,從此中原落入金人殘暴的統治。

在北方淪陷區長大的辛棄疾,從小就富有民族意識。長大後便在家鄉聚集了二千多人,投入當時的抗敵領袖耿京的旗下,立下不少輝煌的戰功。

二十三歲時,辛棄疾更率軍回到南方,打算一展抱負,收復北方的失地。然而,當時南宋政府根本沒有抵抗金人的決心,辛棄疾滿腔抱負落空了;又因為處處為人民著想,積極的作為,引起別人的猜忌,以致於兩度被迫離職,過了二十年閒散的生活。這使得滿懷壯志的他,心中非常痛苦,只好藉詞來表達心聲,因此他的詞豪放中別有一股悲涼的情懷。-- 
摘錄自華一書局《兒童啟蒙文學》>

now, for a better appreciation of this famous xin qiji long-and-short verse, let's see how some of the masters of translation do their own rendition. 

Rendition 1
-- by 林語堂 Lin Yutang  (1895 - 1976)

In my young days, 
I had tasted only gladness,
But loved to mount the top floor,    
But loved to mount the top floor,    
To write a song pretending sadness.

And now I have tasted 
Sorrow's flavours, bitter and sour,
And can't find a word, 
And can't find a word. 
But merely say, "What a golden autumn hour!



Rendition 2
-- by 楊憲益 Yang Xianyi (1915-2009

"Written on the Wall on My Way to Boshan -- to the Melody Chou Nu Er"

As a lad I never knew the taste of sorrow,
But loved to climb towers,
Loved to climb towers,
And drag sorrow into each new song I sung.

Now I know well the taste of sorrow,
It is on the tip of my tongue,
On the tip of my tongue,
But instead I say, "What a fine, cool autumn day!"

Rendition 3
-- by 唐安石神父 Fr. John A.Turner (? -1971) 

"Enlightenment"

In youth, ere Grief to me was known
I loved to climb on high, I loved to climb on high:
In many a laboured lay
Grief would I there portray.

But now, with Grief familiar grown,
Slower to speak am I, slower to speak am I.
At most, I pause and say,
"What a fine autumn day!"
  
Rendition 4
-- by 許淵沖 Xu Yuanchong(1921- )

Tune: "Song of Ugly Slave --Written on the Wall on My Way to Boshan"

While young, I knew no grief I could not bear;
I'd like to go upstair.
         
I'd like to go upstair
To write new verses with a false despair.


I know what grief is now that I am old;
I would not have it told.  
 
 
I would not have it told,      

But only say I'm glad that autumn's cold.  



Rendition 5
-- Andrew W.F. Wong (Huang Hongfa) 譯者黃宏發
23 May 2007 (revised 18.7.07; 5.12.07; further revised... 30.11.10)

Xin Qiji (1140-1207)
Tune: "Chou Nu Er (The Ugly Page)"/ 

          "Cai Sang Zi (Picking Mulberries)"
Title: "Written on a Wall on the Way to Boshan"

1  When young I never did know the taste of woe or sorrow,
2  To the top floor upstairs, I loved to go;
 
 

3  To the top floor upstairs, I loved to go,
4  For to compose new verses, I feigned my sorrow and woe.

5  Now that sorrow and woe I've tasted, and the bitterness withal,
6  To speak, I wish, and yet I stall;
7  To speak, I wish, and yet I stall,
8  What a beautifully chilly autumn! I say, after all.

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