King Lear: A Verse Translation (more info)

ISBN: 0-9752743-2-5

ISBN-13: 978-0-9752743-2-3

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Macbeth: A Verse Translation (more info)

ISBN: 0-9752743-8-4

ISBN-13: 978-0-9752743-8-5

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Much Ado About Nothing: A Verse Translation (more info)

ISBN: 0-9752743-3-3

ISBN-13: 978-0-9752743-3-0

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Romeo and Juliet: A Verse Translation (more info)

ISBN: 0-9752743-1-7

ISBN-13: 978-0-9752743-1-6

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Twelfth Night: A Verse Translation (more info)

ISBN: 0-9752743-0-9

ISBN-13: 978-0-9752743-0-9

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Excerpt from Macbeth

Act 2, Scene 2

 

Scene Two. Inside Macbeth’s Castle

 [Enter LADY MACBETH]

 

LADY MACBETH

That which has made them drunk has made me bold.

What’s doused their flame has brought me fire.—What?—Nothing!

An owl just screeched, the bell for the condemned,

The harshest of good nights. He’s doing it.

The doors are open, and the stuffed attendants

Scoff at their job with snores. I’ve drugged their nightcaps,

So nature’s forces battle here to see

If they will live or die.

 

[MACBETH enters through the open door]

 

MACBETH

[from beyond the door] Who’s there?—What’s that?

 

LADY MACBETH

Oh, no! I am afraid they’ve woken up

And it’s not done. Attempt without the deed

Will wreck us.—Listen!—I laid out their daggers.

He couldn’t miss them.—Had he not resembled

My father as he slept, I would have done it.

My husband?

 

[Enter MACBETH, holding bloody daggers]

 

MACBETH

I’ve done the deed. Did you hear any noise?

 

LADY MACBETH

I heard the owl screech and the crickets cry.

You did not speak?

 

MACBETH

When?

 

LADY MACBETH

Now.

 

MACBETH

As I descended?

 

LADY MACBETH

Yes.

 

MACBETH

Wait!—The next room, who’s in it?

 

LADY MACBETH

Donalbain.

 

MACBETH

[Looking at his hands] This is a sorry sight.

 

LADY MACBETH

A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.

 

MACBETH

First one laughed in his sleep, and one cried, “Murder!”

Enough to wake each other. I froze and listened,

But then they said their prayers and settled down

And fell asleep.

 

LADY MACBETH

The two share the same room.

 

MACBETH

One cried, “God bless us!” The other said, “Amen.”

As if they’d seen me with these hangman’s hands.

Hearing their fear, I could not say “Amen,”

When they had said, “God bless us.”

 

LADY MACBETH

Don’t think too deeply.

 

MACBETH

But why could I not say the word “Amen?”

I need his blessing most, and yet “Amen”

Stuck in my throat.

 

LADY MACBETH

We must not think about

These deeds this way, or it will drive us mad.

 

MACBETH

It seemed I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more!

Macbeth has murdered sleep,”—yes, innocent sleep,

Sleep that rewinds unraveled threads of care,

The death of each day’s life, hard work’s warm bath,

Salve for hurt minds, and nature’s biggest course,

Chief nourishment in life’s feast.

 

LADY MACBETH

What do you mean?

 

MACBETH

Still it cried, “Sleep no more!” to all the house.

“Glamis has murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor

Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more!”

 

© 2008 by Kent Richmond

What is a Verse Translation?

A verse translation maintains as closely as possible the rhythm and line length of the original work. Shakespeare's original lines from Twelfth Night and the ENJOY SHAKESPEARE verse translation are written in a kind of verse meter called iambic pentameter, or blank verse.*

Shakespeare’s Original Iambic Pentameter Lines

 

There is a fair behavior in thee, captain;     (11 syllables)

And though that nature with a beauteous wall    (10 syllables)

Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee     (10 syllables)

I will believe though has a mind that suits     (10 syllables)

With this thy fair and outward character.     (10 syllables)

        —Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 2

 

 

 

 

Prose translations, on the other hand, focus on capturing the literal meaning, without concern for the rhythm of the original. You will not sense a meter developing, and you will not feel like you are reading Shakespeare.

 

 

---

* For more information on Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter, see “Appendix 1: How Iambic Pentameter Works” in Twelfth Night: A Verse Translation in English. Or for a brief description try this Wikipedia link. Here are two more extensive descriptions of Shakespeare's meter—"Scansion Guide" and "Teaching Meter" at the Interactive Shakespeare Project at the College of the Holy Cross Theater Department.

"Too often, unless we read a Shakespeare play beforehand, we process the language as if it were coming from a poorly tuned-in radio station. Shakespeare didn’t write his plays to be experienced impressionistically as ‘poetry;’ he assumed his language was readily comprehensible. At what point does a stage of a language become so different from the modern one as to make translation necessary? Mr. Richmond is brave enough to assert that, for Shakespeare, that time has come. The French have Moliere, the Russians have Chekhov—and now, we can truly say that we have our Shakespeare.”  

—John McWhorter, Manhattan Institute

I wanted something more understandable. I found [Richmond's] script and loved it...The translation manages to maintain Shakespeare's brilliant form and rhythm."

—Shauna Huff, director of Romeo and Juliet: A Verse Translation,
Jonathan Alder High School
(Madison Messenger, 11/07/05)

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