Chapter 252 Why I Translated The Prophet and Gitanjali

I only know one foreign language—English, and I am not proficient in it yet.Therefore, I dare not do translation work easily, especially poetry translation.Although I have also translated one or two poems of kings and presidents, those are all tasks given to me by the "superior", so I have to work hard.As for my favorite, and I am eager to enjoy it with readers, there are only two translated books, and that is He! After my mother passed away in 1930, I fell ill and was bored on the sick bed. I reread the prose poems written by the Lebanese poet Gibran that I loved to read. Arabic has written many works, which have been translated into 18 languages ​​of various countries.Later, he wrote many works in English, and this book is called his masterpiece by readers all over the world.

At that time, I felt a desire to overflow, and I was willing to let readers who could not read the original text enjoy the joy, admiration and sadness I felt when reading this book. The advantage of this book is that the author, with pure and beautiful poetic language, expresses the principles of being a human being with a high realm, a far-sighted vision, and both profound and ordinary.The translation feels easy and smooth, but tears often fall involuntarily. In 1955, I translated the "Poems Dedicated" by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore.Very different from Gibran's background, Tagore is a "prince" born in the "Nest of Songbirds". From his happy state of mind, he loves everything around him.

He used dazzling and beautiful poetic language to sing about the nature and human beings he loves.In order to fully convey the author's "singing bird" like leaping and singing mood, the translator has traveled a long way in the jungle of Chinese poetry vocabulary! I have never dared to retranslate, but the two books of these two poets were written in English by the poets themselves.I know that my translation can only absorb a drop in the ocean, but only this drop, I would also like to contribute to readers who do not know the original text, to share my "hard work" and enjoyment in translating poems.