On January 15th, acclaimed overseas Chinese author Cynthia Tang delivered a lecture titled Tugging with Eternity: The Two Mysterious Lovers in Shakespeare’s Sonnets, exploring the interplay of love and time in Shakespeare’s works through literary, emotional, and philosophical lenses.
The lecture also featured recitations by Shakespearean actors, allowing the audience to experience the beauty of the verse firsthand. The multimedia format was met with enthusiastic response.
Hosted by the Irvine Book Club, the online lecture attracted 147 attendees from across the U.S., eager to hear Tang’s unique insights into Shakespeare’s sonnets and engage in a lively discussion.
Cynthia Tang emphasized that Shakespeare was not only a renowned playwright but also a highly respected poet.
The rhythmic structure of his sonnets lends a musical quality that deepens the themes of love, time, and death.
Focusing on the two mysterious lovers in the sonnets, Cynthia Tang explored their symbolic connection to universal human experiences—whether the passion of first love or the more mature love that confronts time’s passage.
These elements, she argued, create a profound emotional landscape of both eternity and impermanence.
Cynthia Tang further analyzed how Shakespeare uses poetry to resist the ravages of time, underscoring that poetry can give fleeting lives eternal significance in the face of death and aging.
She noted that Shakespeare's “eternity” is not about physical permanence, but a spiritual force that transcends the body, enduring through time and allowing love and emotion to live on in poetry.
Throughout the lecture, Cynthia Tang played excerpts from sonnet recitations, showcasing the beauty of Shakespeare's verse while conveying its emotional depth and philosophical reflections.
This multimedia approach enriched the experience, allowing the audience to connect more deeply with Shakespeare’s works.
During the interactive Q&A, participants shared their thoughts. One member, Jennifer Lin, commented, “Humans are truly creatures of emotion. It’s our sensitivity to emotions that gives rise to great literature.”
Another attendee reflected that Shakespeare’s poetry transcends love to explore life, aging, and death. Through the recitations, she felt the power of the poetry, as if time and emotion flowed eternally through the words, deeply moving the audience.
Irvine Book Club president Laura Yen expressed gratitude to former president Anna Cheng for facilitating the online lecture and to Cynthia Tang for guiding the audience in exploring the eternal themes of love, time, and death, prompting deeper reflection on both “eternity” and “impermanence.”
知名海外華文女作家張純瑛1/15日在一場主題為《與永恆拔河：莎翁十四行詩中的兩位神秘戀人》演講中，除分別從文學、情感和哲學等角度，探討莎翁在商韻中所描繪愛情與時間的對應關係，也播放莎劇演員朗誦十四行詩片段，讓聽眾親自體驗商韻的優美，多媒體演講模式，引起熱烈迴響。
這場雲端講座，由爾灣讀書會主辦，因邀請到對莎士比亞十四行詩有獨到見解的張純瑛主講，吸引全美各地147人同時在線上聆聽，並爭相留言回餽。
張純瑛指出，莎士比亞不僅是偉大的劇作家，更是在文學史上受到高度推崇的詩人。而莎士比亞在十四行詩中的商韻結構，不僅賦予詩歌獨特的音樂感，在他描寫愛情、時間與死亡這些主題時，更顯得格外深刻。
在演講中，張純瑛特別聚焦在莎士比亞十四行詩中的兩位神秘戀人，她透過莎翁在詩歌中的描寫，探討了愛與死亡、詩與永恆間的緊密聯繫。
張純瑛指出，這兩位戀人不僅是莎士比亞詩歌中的具體人物，更象徵人類情感的普遍經歷。
無論是充滿激情的初戀，還是面對歲月流逝的成熟愛情，這些元素在莎士比亞的筆下交織，呈現出一幅永恆與無常並存的情感圖景。
張純瑛除進一步解析莎士比亞如何通過詩歌對抗時間的無情，並強調詩歌作為一種文學形式，在面對死亡與衰老的威脅時，能賦予短暫生命以永恆的意義。
她還特別提到，莎士比亞的「永恆」，並非指物理上的不變，而是一種超越肉體的精神力量，這股力量能夠穿越時間的迷霧，永存於詩歌之中，讓愛情和情感，得以在詩歌的世界裡長久流傳。
在演講進行中，張純瑛還播放莎士比亞劇作中知名演員的朗誦片段，通過朗誦，聽眾不僅能夠聽見莎士比亞的詩歌之美，還能感受到詩歌所承載的情感張力與哲學思考。
這種多媒體演講表達方式，除讓整場講座變得更具沉浸感，也使線上聽眾在聲音與文字的交織中，更深刻領悟到莎士比亞作品中深邃的情感世界。
在演講結束後的互動時間，聽眾和張純瑛的問答和討論，非常踴躍。 會員之一 Jennifer Lin 留言分享：「人真是感情的動物，正是這種對情感的敏感性與靈感，才能創造出偉大的文學作品！感情不僅限於愛情，還包括親情、友情、溫情，以及對造物者更高深的敬愛！....」
另有網友表示，莎士比亞的詩歌不只是對愛情的描寫，更是對生命、衰老和死亡的哲學探索。透過朗誦片段，我感受到詩歌的力量，彷彿時間與情感在文字間永恆流轉，令人動容。
爾灣讀書會會長李克琪表示，這場講座要感謝前會長傅鶴琴的牽線，更要謝謝作家張純瑛，帶領聽眾探索愛情、時間與死亡等永恆主題，並對「永恆」與「無常」有更深層的思考。
