Work on Bard's sonnets gives readers a modern flavor

Ye Xiumin. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

In Ye Xiumin's words, William Shakespeare－in his sentimental and philosophical way－was a great lover, who was also afraid of darkness.

Reading and translating the Bard's sonnets she realized how much of a poet he was, in addition to being one of the world's finest playwrights.

"I see how loyal he is to the 'fair youth' that he has hundreds of ways to praise the person's beauty, without repetition of phrases. I also see his hesitation in expressing his love because of the age gap between them," Ye, 46, tells China Daily at a cafe in Beijing, speaking of one of Shakespeare's sonnets.

According to historians, the Bard dedicated many of his sonnets to a young man and a few to a young woman.

Along with the rest of the world, China is marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death this year with a series of cultural events.

Ye will release her book dedicated to Shakespeare on World Book Day, this Saturday, she says.

She hopes to help Chinese readers understand Shakespeare's sonnets better through Across 400 Years to Reach You, her well-illustrated book that not only translates his words about also interprets their meaning.

The book has been published by China Youth Publishing Group.

"I want to bring the sonnets' beauty to beholders in a manner that non-English speaking readers can see Shakespeare as a poet, too," says Ye.

Her attempts are also to change the general notion that poetry can't be translated.

To critic Zhang Yimeng, the Bard's sonnets have been lost on many Chinese readers due to translation issues.

There have been a few successful Chinese translations in the past century, but Zhang says more needs to be done.

"The dozen or so Chinese translations were mostly done by academics (instead of poets), whose literal translations were faithful to original text in meaning and format but lack a poetic mood and aesthetic elegance－the very features that make poetry popular and memorable."