Xuân Quỳnh and her husband Lưu Quang Vũ were great poets of Vietnam (I don't really know much about Lưu Quang Vũ, who was also a popular drama writer having more than 50 works within 8 years). I love Xuân Quỳnh for the sweetly traditional femaleness in her poems. She loved. And love in her writings was so soft, realistic but not less romantic, always full of emotions. I love the way she used words, simple words to express a pure soul, fervent and ebullient but not less fervid and faithful.
It was the pudding & poetry night in World Café that I decided to translate a poem of Xuân Quỳnh. I wanted to choose a really good poem to present to people but had many difficulties making the decision because there were too many possibilities. Finally, thinking that love was one of the most common thing for all people around the world, I chose "Thuyền và biển" (The boat and the sea) almost immediately. In Vietnamese literature, especially in poetry, the image of "thuyền" (the boat) and "biển" (the sea) has long been used to express love in this or that way. And the work that I was going to exhibit was so famous that most Vietnamese people knew about it.
Their family: Lưu Quỳnh Thơ, Xuân Quỳnh, Lưu Quang Vũ, Lưu Minh Vũ
A remarkable feature of Vietnamese poems is that they are very harmonious, thus are easy to be transform to songs. Thanks to its greatness of that characteristic, "Thuyền và biển" has motivated two songs with its words altered minimally.
At that evening of 24 November 2006, I read the original poem, my translation and talked a few about the inspired songs. I would have sung the songs if I were not a little nervous :-D. And here is my translation with some minor adjustments, with my full respect to the author:
Translating the poem into English, I wish people to read it in the original form, to have a deeper feeling about a typical traditional Vietnamese woman soul.
It was the pudding & poetry night in World Café that I decided to translate a poem of Xuân Quỳnh. I wanted to choose a really good poem to present to people but had many difficulties making the decision because there were too many possibilities. Finally, thinking that love was one of the most common thing for all people around the world, I chose "Thuyền và biển" (The boat and the sea) almost immediately. In Vietnamese literature, especially in poetry, the image of "thuyền" (the boat) and "biển" (the sea) has long been used to express love in this or that way. And the work that I was going to exhibit was so famous that most Vietnamese people knew about it.
Their family: Lưu Quỳnh Thơ, Xuân Quỳnh, Lưu Quang Vũ, Lưu Minh Vũ
A remarkable feature of Vietnamese poems is that they are very harmonious, thus are easy to be transform to songs. Thanks to its greatness of that characteristic, "Thuyền và biển" has motivated two songs with its words altered minimally.
At that evening of 24 November 2006, I read the original poem, my translation and talked a few about the inspired songs. I would have sung the songs if I were not a little nervous :-D. And here is my translation with some minor adjustments, with my full respect to the author:
The boat and the sea
Xuan Quynh
Only the boat understands
How immense the sea is
Only the sea understands
Where the boat wants to be
On the day they don’t see each other
The sea misses the boat so much that its hairy waves are whiten
On the day the don’t see each other
The boat is as sad as if it were broken
Having to leave the boat,
The scean is sadly alone with its waves and winds
Having to leave you
I am alone with inner storms
Having to leave you,
I am alone with inner storms....
Translating the poem into English, I wish people to read it in the original form, to have a deeper feeling about a typical traditional Vietnamese woman soul.
1 comment:
It seems that is a good poem, but I don't know the poet.
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