Shakespearean Sonnet , English Sonnet

The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

• Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? /a/• Thou art more lovely and more temperate: /b/• Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May /a/• And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: /b/• Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines /c/• And often is his gold complexion dimmed; /d/• And every fair from fair sometimes declines, /c/• By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed; /d/• But thy eternal summer shall not fade, /e/• Nor lose the possession of that fair thou ow’st. /f/• Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade, /e/• When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st: /f/• So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, /g/• So long lives this, and breath this gives life to thee. /g/

Journal of Language and Literature, ISSN: 2078-0303, May, 201040

PRESERVING THE CULTURAL ESSENCE IN TRANSLATING INTOARABIC THE SHAKESPEARE’S SONNET

“SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY”Bakri Al-Azzam1a, Majed Al-Quran1b, Mohammed Al-Ali2

http://www.lit.az/ijar/pdf/jll/2/JLL2010(2-6).pdf

• What follows is an Arabic translation of the sonnet, an attempt to preserve the cultural essence, and then is

• back translated into English.• سبیال والھالل للثریا ما تمثیال بالمھا تجرأ ذا من• فتیال تنال لن ھي بشرورھا بحرھا الشموُس� منك جنت مھما• طویال الفصول بین وبقاؤھا جمالھا زاد الشوك في وردة یا• رحیال یظل فیھم وجودھا و راحل الخالئق عن الجمال ھذا• تجمیال زاده یوم كل في مصاحب للوجود حسنك لكن• نخیال الحجاز ارض في دام ما حدیقة الجمیع عین في تبقین• فجیال الزمان مر على جیال قصیدة الجمیع یذكرك تبقین

Then isback translated into English.

• Who can dare compare you to a gazelle?• Pleiades and moon haven’t any way• However much the hot sun from you does gain• Would have but a stone thread of dates• A rose whose beauty is enhanced by thorns• All the seasons you’ll stay alive• From all creatures beauty must depart• So long you betwixt them remain• But your beauty shall this life share• And increase at every dawn of day• All but a garden you shall see• So long as in Hijāz palm trees grow• A poem sung by all you shall be• Throughout the ages year by year