Translation Review - The University of Texas at Dallas

≥u±N•h§k,
æA©ºº÷≠•;
º÷≠•º÷≠•,
This poem is fairly typical of the “Airs” section of
the Book of Songs in that the poem consists of three
stanzas, each of eight lines with four characters to
each line, a very terse form. This particular poem
falls under the rubric of bi, § , “metaphor,” one of
the three compositional techniques used in the
“Airs” as defined by later commentators. This poem
is considered metaphorical because the officials are
compared to large rats. (The other two compositional
techniques are fu,Ω·, or narrative display, and
xing, ø, or motif.)
In 1861, James Legge published the first complete
translation the Book of Songs in English.
Legge preached at the Union Church in Hong Kong
for nearly 30 years before returning to England,
where he was made the first Professor of Chinese at
Oxford University. He is famous for having spent a
lifetime translating the Confucian and Daoist classics.
Here is his version of the poem:
Large rats, large rats, let us entreat
That you our millet will not eat.
But the large rats we mean are you,
With whom three years we’ve had to do,
And all that time have never known
One look of kindness on us thrown.
We take leave of Wei and you;
That happier land we long to view.
O happy land! O happy land!
There in our proper place we’ll stand.
Large rats, large rats, let us entreat
You’ll not devour our crops of wheat.
But the large rats we mean are you,
With whom three years we’ve had to do;
And all that time you never wrought
One kindly act to cheer our lot.
To you and Wei we bid farewell,
Soon in that happier state to dwell.
O happy state! O happy state!
There shall we learn to bless our fate.
Large rats, large rats, let us entreat
Our springing grain you will not eat.
But the large rats we mean are you,
With whom three years we’ve had to do.
From you there came not all that while
One word of comfort ‘mid our toil.
We take our leave of you and Wei;
And to those happier coasts we flee.
O happy coasts, to you we wend!
There shall our groans and sorrows end. 2
Initially, Legge published a scholarly prose version
of the Book of Songs; later, with the help of others,
he produced a verse version for the non-specialist.
This version in rhyming couplets is the sort of translation
one would expect from late Victorian
England. The meter is regular and the rhyme very
intrusive, if not jarring to the ear. The eight-line
stanzas of the original have become ten-line stanzas
in translation: Legge pads his translation, fleshing
out the meaning of the elliptical original. For some
reason, he doesn’t think his reader capable of understanding
the metaphorical function of the rats in the
poem, and insists upon telling us that the rats are
actually members of the government of Wei.
Another feature of this translation that will not find
many takers today is the syntactic contortions to
achieve the clunky rhymes. Most contemporary
readers will spend a good deal of time retranslating
Legge’s translation into modern English with normal
syntax. Also, there is that 19th-century species of
faux poetic language: “let us entreat,” “we take our
leave,” “to you we wend.” This sort of medievalism
certainly fit the tastes of the day and lends a certain
antiquated texture to the poem.
Another 19th-century rendition is that done by
William Jennings, Vicar of Beedon and once
Colonial Chaplain of St. John’s Cathedral, Hong
Kong. He produced a complete translation of the
Book of Songs for Sir John Lubbock’s Hundred
Books series. His complete version was published in
1891. Jennings produced his translation after studying
the original texts and a number of commentaries.
He also availed himself of Legge’s scholarly
prose version.
In the introduction, Jennings enumerates some
of the problems facing the translator of the Book of
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