【我能否把你比作盛夏？莎翁第18手14行詩賞翻】

-並附傅翻

我能否把你比作盛夏？

越美越款

風促五月蕾，日出夏結短；

偶視眩陽目，金容時為暗。

看似風和麗，萬物常變易。

然夏恆久遠，系因君美戚。

書為汝呼吸，詩若人眼力。

若命為此續，死神亦無懼。

William Shakespeare   Sonnet XVIII

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owe’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow‘st:

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

1)                  summer’s lease 這裡是比喻lease of life: a chance to live or last longer

2)                  By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; 萬物變幻，風雨無常

3)                  owe ’st， grow ’st wander’st古代動詞的律詩的附綴，類似didst

4)                  這首詩歌唯一一個緊密相關並倆續加強的部分在最後5句

But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owe’st;

首先是說夏日的恆久來自君子的風采

When in eternal lines to time thou grow‘st:

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

然後是時代的永恆 詩歌的生命不朽

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

甚至不懼怕死神的誇口

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莎士比亞十四行詩新譯（第十八首）

　　　傅正明譯

問君何所似，可否比春日？

問君何所似，可否比春日？1

春輸一段柔情，君多三分麗質：

五月瘦蕾，難堪晚來風急，

春宵苦短，租賃只在片時 ;

日高起時懸巨眼，灼熱如火炙，

又常見金容蒙陰翳，愁雲密。

便縱有芳菲滿地香馥郁，

怎奈萬物變易，美更容易遇劫。2

唯君挽住春光夏時，

神采丰韻，永不凋敝。3

任它死神陰雲匝地催命急，

自有名家詩行賦佳麗：4

只要人類繁衍好書有人讀，

借我詩筆，賜君生命傳永世。

注釋

1 英國夏季明媚，相當於中國的春季，前人已有譯Summer’s day (夏日)為“春日”之先例。

2 原詞 untrimmed此處應解讀為 stripped of beauty。

3 原文 that fair thou owest 應當解讀為that beauty thou possessest，即你所具有的美。

4 原詞 growest 此處應解讀為 becomes a part of。這兩行直譯是：當你在永恆的詩行中成為時代（或時間）的一部分時，死神也不會誇口說你走在他的陰影里。

William Shakespeare   Sonnet XVIII

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
　So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
　So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

選自傅正明譯註《英美抒情詩新譯》（台灣商務印書館，2012年