原创： 颜海峰 译诗 12月6日

Snow in the Night

Written by Bai Juyi

Translated by Yan Haifeng

Version 1

Wondering why it's getting cold

I wake up n' see the window bright

Snow must be heavy in th' deep night

Bamboos snap since they cannot hold

Version 2

Gettin’ cold in bed makes me awake

I find it's bright outside th’ window

Deep night must be greeting thick snow

For I hear th' sound when bamboos break

The Translator's Remarks

时值二十四节气中的“大雪”，我选择白居易所作的这首《夜雪》应景而译。

这首诗清新雅致，也透露出诗人谪居时的孤寂。彼时的香山居士因言获罪，被贬江州，却也为中国古典诗歌贡献了不少佳构，除了“青衫湿”的《琵琶行》，还有其他349首，占据了白居易所有诗歌的13%，足见这一时期对于诗人的特殊意义。江州司马从此不再怀抱兼济天下，而是开始了无奈的独善其身。

两个译本译毕多日，译后感却迟迟欠奉。设若译而有论，在这个喧嚣的瓦釜时代，不也成就吹捧的虚名三四？正是人生洞察，才轻叹一二，译而不言。所得和所失已经为居士尽言，其中机妙不待凑泊。

It is the “Great Snow” of the Twenty-four Solar Terms，so I choose this poem of Bai Juyi for an occasional translation.

This poem is refined and refreshing, conveying the poet's loneliness when he was living in exile in Jiangzhou（now Jiujiang City of Jiangxi Province）because of his remonstration to the emperor. But it turns out that this historical issue made some contribution to the classical Chinese poetry. Apart from the well known Song of the Lute, there are other 349 poems written in this period, accounting for 13% of his poetry, a good proof of significance of the time to the poet. In exile, he no longer aspired to benefit others, but to maintain his own integrity.

I've finished the two versions for days, but I kept myself mute. Had I rendered and expounded on my rendering, I'd have gained a little reputation in this chaotic world. But seeing all this through, I give slight sighs and still seek no change. The gain and loss are all expressed in this short poem, whose subtle sense is unnecessary to elucidate. 

The Translator's Bio

颜海峰，笔名木樨黄谷、水中山，山东政法学院副教授，北京外国语大学博士研究生。兼任东西方艺术家协会副主席、华诗会副会长、中国比较文明学会理事、山东省作家协会会员、《世界诗人》客座总编、《诗殿堂》主编等职。出版译著6部，发表学术论文20余篇，发表译诗、新诗、古体诗近千首，散见于《中国诗选》等期刊或选本。曾获第四届中国当代诗歌奖翻译奖，国际诗酒大会草堂国际诗会翻译。

Brent O. Yan, originally known as Yan Haifeng, is an associate professor in Shandong University of Political Science and Law and a Ph.D. candidate in Beijing Foreign Studies University. He is vice-chairman of East-West Association of Artists, councilor of the Chinese Society of Comparative Study of Civilizations, memberof Writers Association of Shandong Province of China, guest editor of the World Poets Quarterly, translation editor-in-chief of Poetry Hall, etc. He has published 6 translated books, more than 20 academic papers and many pieces of poem translation, modern poems and poems of ancient Chinese styles. He was awarded “Best Translator” in Contemporary Chinese Poetry Award. In 2017 he worked as a translator for International Festival of Poetry and Liquor. 

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