【我能否把你比作盛夏？莎翁第18手14行诗赏翻】

-并附傅翻

我能否把你比作盛夏？

越美越款

风促五月蕾，日出夏结短；

偶视眩阳目，金容时为暗。

看似风和丽，万物常变易。

然夏恒久远，系因君美戚。

书为汝呼吸，诗若人眼力。

若命为此续，死神亦无惧。

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 这里是比喻lease of life: a chance to live or last longer

2)                  By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; 万物变幻，风雨无常

3)                  owe ’st， grow ’st wander’st古代动词的律诗的附缀，类似didst

4)                  这首诗歌唯一一个紧密相关并俩续加强的部分在最后5句

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

首先是说夏日的恒久来自君子的风采

When in eternal lines to time thou grow‘st:

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

然后是时代的永恒 诗歌的生命不朽

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

甚至不惧怕死神的夸口

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莎士比亚十四行诗新译（第十八首）

　　　傅正明译

问君何所似，可否比春日？

问君何所似，可否比春日？1

春输一段柔情，君多三分丽质：

五月瘦蕾，难堪晚来风急，

春宵苦短，租赁只在片时 ;

日高起时悬巨眼，灼热如火炙，

又常见金容蒙阴翳，愁云密。

便纵有芳菲满地香馥郁，

怎奈万物变易，美更容易遇劫。2

唯君挽住春光夏时，

神采丰韵，永不凋敝。3

任它死神阴云匝地催命急，

自有名家诗行赋佳丽：4

只要人类繁衍好书有人读，

借我诗笔，赐君生命传永世。

注释

1 英国夏季明媚，相当于中国的春季，前人已有译Summer’s day (夏日)为“春日”之先例。

2 原词 untrimmed此处应解读为 stripped of beauty。

3 原文 that fair thou owest 应当解读为that beauty thou possessest，即你所具有的美。

4 原词 growest 此处应解读为 becomes a part of。这两行直译是：当你在永恒的诗行中成为时代（或时间）的一部分时，死神也不会夸口说你走在他的阴影里。

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.

选自傅正明译注《英美抒情诗新译》（台湾商务印书馆，2012年