Conveyance Of Aesthetic Effect In The Transltion Of English Poetry Into Chinese

English poetry, the very essence of English literature, constitutes an organic part of English culture. Aesthetic effect and poetic artistry consist in both form beauty and non-form beauty, which are manifested by poetic diction, imagery and artistic conception as well as line arrangement and sound effect. In the light of Nida's theory of functional equivalence and Liu Miqing's ideas on translation aesthetics, this thesis gives a systematic account of the basic aesthetic constituents of English poetry and delves into the conveyance of aesthetic effect of English poetry in Chinese.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One gives a brief introduction to English poetry and makes a comparative study of English and Chinese poetry, poetic theories and prosody, forms in particular. Chapter Two dwells upon both translation theories in general and some specific thoughts and principles on poetry translation. It states as well the necessity of choosing the conveyance of aesthetic effect and poetic beauty as the subject matter of the present thesis. This writer holds that, in poetry translation, aesthetic effect is a more general quality than meaning, and the aesthetic constituents existing in the original must be retained in the translation. On a divisional basis, Chapter Three offers a detailed discussion of the conveyance of poetic beauty in form, and Chapter Four focuses on the reproduction of non-form goodness of poetry. Form features distinguish poetry from other literary genres and thus require a close translation. Linguistic constraints defy the possibility of absolute formal equivalence, but equivalent effect should, and in the majority of cases, can be achieved. Non-form beauty concerns the very spirit of a poem; hence images must be retained, as should poetic diction and artisticconception. The relationship between form beauty and non-form beauty is complementary as well as contradictory, and the absence of either would surely undermine the integrity of a poem. Of the two, non-form beauty sets the tone of the poem and should in no way yield to formal niceties. Chapter Five offers a thorough study of translating English poetry as an integral whole.In the final analysis, translation essentially involves comprehensive processing of the original message; the translated text, accordingly, is expected to bear as close resemblance as possible to the given text in overall effect. The quality of the translation largely depends on the aesthetic empathy and eloquence of translators. To produce a desirable translation, translators should assume a scholarly attitude toward their work and improve themselves and their translations without end.